Tegami Bachi: A Veiled Secret Kept
by Mage of Hope
Summary: Lara Seeing is a Letter Bee crossing to be a guy. But with Reverse and other troubles approach, will she ever be able to keep her secret from being discovered? Several plot twists and changes. FemLagxZazie! I think the summary sucks but please review! SPOILERS!
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! This is my first and ever Tegami Bachi fanfic! Now, I am a huge fan of Tegami Bachi after just learning about it and looking at all of the episodes in just a few days! I just wanna say that I fully support LagXZazie as much as you guys!**

**Zazie: *pukes* Hey can you say that? That's...that's just wrong, man!**

**Sylvette: That's right! Zazie can't love Lag because I love Lag even more!~ *glomps Lag***

**Lag: *blushes* S-Sylvette...**

**Niche: *gets mad* Niche will not let anyone take advantage of Lag! Niche will KILL YOU!**

**Hope: 0.0 Anyways...here's the first chapter! Also, forgot to mention you guys, but Lag's gender will be switched! See ya!**

**Everyone: WAIT, WHAT? **

* * *

"...Yodaku District, Southern Region 714...Coza Bel 3211..." spoke a young man with silvery white hair stuffed underneath his trademark cap. He was glancing at the paper he was holding and reading it carefully. He was standing on top of the edge of a cliff, looking up at the dark night sky full of skys that never goes out.

"...There's no mistake, it's definitely around here somewhere," he muttered to himself once more. "But even so, there seems to be a huge fire...and the place seems completely destroyed.

"Woof!" barked a dog's cry. "Woof! Woof! Woof!"

The young man noticed the cry and started walking towards his dog and asked, "What's wrong, Roda? Is it there?" As he started approaching his dog, he saw a strange looking post-sign. "That's a strange postal sign. Didn't the fire damage-"

He stopped walking once he saw his dog Roda near a body. A human body to be exact. The body happened to be an unconscious child wrapped in a long cloak and the child had short silvery hair. But most importantly, this child had a delivery label on her left arm while she was chained to the postal sign.

"This girl...is the letter?" wondered the young man outloud still staring at her. A strong gust of wind blew, lifting the young man and the small child's clothes up and made their hair fly in the air.

* * *

_The scene changes and it shows a town with the bright sky covered with clouds. _

**_"...I wonder...why the sky looks brighter than usual..." _**

_Then, a child's hand and a grown hand touch it other and held together tightly, but full of care. _

**_"Mom...this is Mom's hand...isn't it? Your hand...it's always so cold... _**

_A young woman seems to be talking, but nothing comes out from her mouth. _

**_"What? I...I can't hear you..." _**

_The young woman seems to be sobbing with her mouth covered by her own hand. _

**_"Mom? Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong? Please, don't cry! _**

_A girl in a wheelchair is staring at the night sky. Her face is unclear because her back is turned. _

**_"No...you're not...Mom..." _**

_The girl turns around, tears overwellming with tears. _

**_"Who...who are you?"_**

* * *

"Who are you? !" shouted the child quickly waking up and sitting up.

There was silence...until the young man from before said, "Oh, sorry! I'm Gauche Suede! 18 years old! I'm currently trying to open a can of soup that I bought at a marketplace in Yuusari! It's mostly just broth, but it comes in three flavors and it's easy to carry. And-" The dog from before, the one called 'Roda,' went up to its master. Gauche coughed before saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not very good at talking! This here is my dingo, Roda."

He pointed to his white dog, who had a purplish, pinkish scarf around it. He continued, "In my line of work, 'Dingo' means partner and a friend, Lara Seeing."

The girl was startled, and hesitatly grabbed a long stick and hid behind the huge rock behind her. Gauchen and Roda noticed the girl shaking like a leaf while clutching the stick, and tears coming from her eyes.

"W-why do you know my name?" the little girl asked, scared and frightened. "A-are you one of those creeps who took my mom away to that light?"

"'That light?'" questioned Gauche confused. "Do you mean...that your mother was taken to the capital, Akatsuki?"

"G-give her back!" yelled the little girl called Lara. "Give Mom back! GIVE HER BACK!" While she was yelling, she began swinging her stick at the air and tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Gauche sat up and started opening the can of soup with a can opener. "I don't know what happened, Lara Seeing, but it seems that your heart still hasn't recovered. Please calm down and eat some soup. Also, I happen to know your name by the delivery form stuck on your left arm."

Lara glanced at her left arm and saw some kind of paper attached to her left arm. "Delivery form?" She dropped the stick and examined her left arm carefully.

"Contents: Person-Albisian. Age:7. Female. Fragile. Lara Seeing. I usually deliver letters, but this time, it's a person."

"Who...exactly are you?" asked the little girl curiously.

"Do you not know about the Bee Occupation? I'm a Bee, a member of the Amberground national postal service. We are also know as '**Letter Bees.'**"

"Letter...Bee?"

"We travel from town through town around the countryside, and are fearless of any danger, and deliver precious letters to our citizens." Gauchen pointed to himself in the chest and shouted, "And that, precisely, is the job of a Letter Bee!...Well, that is what it says in the manual. anyways. Do you understand the situation you're in right now?"

Even though he was a complete stranger, and this was the first time she met him, Lara felt that she needed to answer him and nodded.

"Good girl! Now, your delivery form has the appropriate postage stamp. Therefore, I now consider you a package to be delivered! However, it is not neccassary for me to find out the contents of the letter, so I don't need to know anything about you, nor am I curious. So it's fine if you don't want to talk about it. If you understand, let's be on our way, Lara Seeing."

Then again, Lara was unsure whenever to really trust this man or not. After all, her mother was nowhere to be found, and she was left alone with a Letter Bee and his dog. Then, she felt a shadow loom over her and felt herself being picked up by the underarms and lifted up into Gauche's arms.

"Wha-? Put me down! I can walk by myself!" cried Lara throwing her arms and kicking her legs around.

"Don't worry. I'm only doing my job," the older man explained while walking away with the small girl in his arms.

"Let me go! Where are you even taking me?"

"The address is 'Yodaka District, Southern Region 624137-22, 109 Cambel Litus.' And it's addressed to a Mrs. Sabrina Mary."

"Savrina? The old lady who lived in our neighborhood? My aunt?"

"And the person who sent the letter was none other than 'Anne Seeing.'"

Lara was literally shocked and didn't believe Gauche's words right from the start. Her mother, sent her away to her aunt. Sure her aunt wasn't mean or cruel, but why? Lara didn't do anything wrong, yet why was she being sent like this? Especially being sent by a strange guy and his dog who could be working under the guys who kidnapped her mother!

"No...Mom?" she whispered. "Why...? That's...not true...! Mother wouldn't...do that...! It's all because of them-"

"Lara Seeing, stop!" yelled Gauche, "As I said earlier, Letter Bees are not supposed to look in the contents of letters! That's a story to be told until after we reach your destination-"

"It's those bad guys..." muttered Lara, stopping Gauche. "...That came from the light...Mother would never...throw me away..." As Lara was mumbling, Gauche noticed that his Letter Bee uniform was getting soak by the girl's tears and that Lara was clutching onto his uniform while sobbing quietly.

Gauche did nothing to comfort the girl but looked out into the field as the wind started blowing softly past the three of them.

* * *

_Later... _

"Can you put me down now?" asked Lara polietly trying to make herself as cute as possible to convince the older man.

"Will you walk without giving me trouble?"

"Yup!" Afterwards, Gauche carefully placed Lara down on the her feet. Then, he opened a map and started reading outloud.

"Let's see...we're now heading towards Cambel, the southernmost city in Yodaka. But the difficult part is the reach of the darkness or the Gaichuu."

"Gai...chuu...?"

"They're extremely ferocious and dangerous creatures tha inhabit the areas of darkness between towns. They react to people's hearts, instinctualy attacking them. And they have a body covered in armor harder than steel that can even cause bullets to ricochet off."

"Is that one of them?" asked Lara innocently pointing behind Gauche. Gauche turned around and saw a larg gigantic bug on top of a cliff, staring down at them with its large purple pinkish eyes.

"Yes! That's the one! Gaichuu!"

"What?" screamed Lara shocked that they even encountered one so quickly. The Gaichuu then leaped off the cliff and was about to land down on top of those two if Gauche hasn't grabbed Lara and jumped out of the way. After Lara, Gauche, and Roda were safe, Gauche placed Lara down.

"It's huge!" shouted Lara more shocked at its size.

"That's called a 'Daikiri Gaichuu,'" explained Gauche. "I'm surprised it's grown this huge."

Then, Roda charged towards the Daikiri with full speed ahead. The Daikiri stomped one claw on top of her, but Roda dodged just in time.

"Hey!" said Lara turning to Gauche. "Your dog's in danger!"

"Don't worry," ensured Gauche. "It's a combo attack where Roda acts as the decoy to distract it, while I aim for the openings for its joint points."

"The hurry up and do it, or else she'll be a goner!"

"This is all part of my job, so please stay quiet for a moment. If my concentration slips, the bullet loses its power."

"But you said earlier that bullets have no effect on Gaichuu!"

"Don't worry. This is a special anti-Gaichuu gun. A shindanjuu." Gauche lifted up his shindanjuu and the black stone on it began glowing.

_'The stone's glowing,' _thought Lara in astonishment. Then, she noticed the Daikiri approaching them closer and closer. "It's coming this way!" shouted Lara.

"Shindan loaded," muttered Gauche preparing his shindanjuu. "Kurobari!" Gauche fired his shindanjuu, which releashed a black ray and hit the Gaichuu's neck, making the armor dissable itself and defeating the bug inside.

After the fight was over, Lara just stood there, in shock of what happened, then noticed some white stars falling from the night sky slowly and softly, like they were clouds falling from the sky to the ground. They were beautiful, and even as pure as the color of snow. Roda and Gauche were also staring up the stars as well, also astonished by the sight of them as if they've never seen stars before.

* * *

_Later... _

"I'm tellin' you! I heard it!" cried a certain female voice. Lara, Gauche, and Roda were now eating dinner which happened to be soup and the trio were gathered around in a campfire. "I'm certain I heard the Gaichuu cry!"

"Scholars already proven that Gaichuu have no heart!" argued Gauche. "And just eat the rest of the soup, please, Lara Seeing!"

Lara looked at her can of soup and started tasting it, only to find it disgusting and gross than anything else. She thought with a digusted look on her face, _'Blech! It tastes awful!' _

Gauche noticed Lara's "I'm gonna puke" face and shouted, "Hey! Don't complain and just started eating it! Otherwise, you won't grow well!"

Lara glanced at Gauche with an angry and pouting look on her face, which Gauche thought it was adorable. "Yeah, right! Yell all you want, I'm not scared of you!" Lara noticed Gauche's dingo also with a digusted look on her face and quickly grabbed the poor dog. "See? Even Roda thinks so too!"

"Roda, too?" asked Gauche shocked. "Jeez...I just shot a shindan, so can you at least give me a bit of consideration, Lara Seeing?"

"Eh? And what's with that weird gun from before?"

"Normal guns won't work against the hard armor covering the Gaichuu," Gauche started explaining. "Therefore, each Letter Bee carries various weapons to oppose the Gaichuu." He showed his own anti-Gaichuu weapon to Lara. "This is called the shindanjuu." Next, he showed her a golden bullet. "And this is the bullet it shoots."

Lara took it and examined it carefully. "What's this? It's empty inside."

"Correct. It's empty, but it's not a physical bullet. The bullets shot out of this gun are fragments of my heart, Lara Seeing."

"Fragments...of your own heart?"

"The only way to defeat the Gaichuu is to resonate 'heart' from within their armor. Do you know about this black stone set in my shindanjuu?" Gauche gave Lara his shindanjuu he used to defeat the Gaichuu.

"This thing...it was glowing eariler," said Lara.

"It was said that the spiritual energy of the land resided within the bodies of tiny insects in the past. Those so-called insects were trapped in resin because they possessed this energy. The stones that underwent this change into amber are called Spirit Amber, which this black stone is another one of them." Lara gave him back the bullet and gun and then he continued, "I can use my own heart as a weapon through the power of the stone in my gun. However, using your heart weakens it." He then opened his bag and got out an apple. "Just as food would decrease-"

"Hey! That's an apple!" cried Lara pointing to the food. "How come you get only an apple?"

"Like I said, when you shoot your shindan, your heart gets tired, so-" Gauche never got to finish his sentence, because the poor hungry girl snatched the apple started gobbing the it like crazy. "Heyy!"

While Lara was eating, she asked, "What could happen?"

"W-what do you mean?" asked Gauche still shocked over what happened when the gluttonious girl ate the apple completely.

"Like, if your heart was eaten up,just like this apple..."

Gauche was startled at the questione, but decided to answer it anyways. "If one ends up shooting their entire heart, then the body will be all that's left. Gauche Suede would surely disappear."

Lara looked at Gauche, then at the gun he uses for defeating Gaichuus. "Hey, about this spirit amber thing, are there other colors, like pure red?"

"Red, you say? Well, there are various types of colors depending on the insect, but I'm not sure about red." Then, he relaized he was speaking too much and said, "I'm talking too much, and I can't discuss this with an outsider." He stood up. "I guess I must really be tired. Let's call it a day and get some rest."

After Gauche went to put out of the campfire, Lara looked at his shindajuu with a look of determination in her eyes. She thought, _'If only I had a weapon like this...then I could have protected Mom!' _Then, like her prayers have come true, the black spirit amber on Gauche's shindajuu started glowing white rapidly. Roda barked for Gauche and her master looked up and saw what was going on.

"Lara!" he shouted getting up quickly. "Shit! A shindan's been loaded! The amber's power is starting to rise!" Then, the older Letter Bee realized that things were going to get worse if she kept this up. "Lara! Let go of the gun!" But even with Gauche's cried, Lara kept screaming and even the gun fired on its own. Then, Gauche ordered his dingo, "Roda! Get the gun!"

After Roda got the gun in her teeth, a ray sliced the skin in Gauche's right cheek, stinging it really badly.

* * *

_Scene changed to a house that was caught on fire, then a woman being encountered by some strange looking men. Next shows Lara, who asks, "Wait, who are you? And where are you taking Mom?"_

**_These...are Lara's memories... _**

_"Where are you taking Mother?" demanded Lara standing in front of the strange people's way. Then, one man shoved Lara out of the way, making her injured when she hit the ground on her back. _

_One of the men ordered, "Set fire on the house."_

_"Yes sir!" shouted some of the men rushing to do the job. _

**_Fragments...of Lara's memories from..her heart... _**

_"Stop it!" cried Lara with tears running down her cheeks while staring at the burning house full of flames. Next shows Lara's mother near the fireplace inside the house which hasn't been burned...yet._

**_I see...the memory of her mother...they've lived alone for a long time...and her mother raised her all by herself... _**

_"No..." muttered Lara struggling to get up from the damages she took from the strange men. "Please... don't take her away..." The carriage carrying the men and Lara's mother began driving away. "No...don't take Mother away...!" _

* * *

"Mother..." muttered Gauche with tears in his eyes.

"WOOF!" barked Roda. When Gauche realized that his dingo has been barking at him for quite some time, he noticed Lara, who was unconscious.

"Oh no...Lara!" He grabbed his shindajuu and fired it, creating some light surrounding the area.

* * *

_Several hours later... _

"Ngh..." mumbled Lara before slowly opening her eyes. Her first sight was Gauche, who was missing his trademark cap and his Letter Bee jacket. Then, Lara realized she was covered up by Gauche's jacket for a more use of a blanket. She heard rain pouring down hard outside. She assumed they were inside some cave, due to the background and the sound of rain outside.

Gauche noticed the girl finally awakening and ordered, "Don't move, Lara. It's safe here. Please rest a bit longer."

"What happened...?"

"Though I don't know the cause, the power of the spirit amber suddenly increased and the shindanjuu fired on its own. It's said that there is still undiscovered spirit amber underground Amberground. Perhaps it resonated through another amber vein in these mountains. After all, there are many ways to use a shindan. I shot you with one. A shindan that recovers the heart. However, I'm not skilled with that one. And I'm not sure if it worked." He stopped his sentence right away, after sensing that Lara was fast asleep and not even listening to a word he said.

Lara snuggled deeply in the jacket Gauche gave her and held it tightly, like she might lose it. She began snoring, but it wasnt a usual loud snore you normally hear from people. It was actually a soft and quiet snore that was almost never heard. The fact is, she looked like an innocent child and she could be one, unless she took care of her complaints. Anyways, Gauche thought she looked cute even when she was mad and she almost resembled his sister.

"Goodnight, Lara," whispered Gauche. "You used too much heart today." He thought back, _'So her mother...that's what it feels like?' _He took out a picture of a girl from his shirt and thought more about how he got in touched with her memories.

Roda got worried and walked towards Gauche with a concerned look on her face. Gauche noticed and ruffled her fur. "I'm okay Roda. Thanks." Then, both he and his dingo sensed large numbers of Gaichuu approaching and got up. "Since we sent out that heart firework, hundreds of Gaichuu probably appeared. I'll be working partime, but..." Gauche put on his trademark cap and had his gun at ready.

"That is the job of a Letter Bee."

* * *

_Scene changes to the same town from before. _

**_"Here...again...?" _**

_Then, the town was brightly covered in light and everything seems normal. _

**_"And a town covered in twilight.." _**

_In town, there shows many people gathering around, chatting happily and shopping. _

**_"And so much people too..." _**

_Next shows Gauche buying something in some supermarket. He appears to be buying some cans of soup. _

**_"Gauche? And that disgusting soup too!" _**

_Gauche and some other female Letter Bee were shopping in the marketplace. Gauche ordered, "20 cans, please!"_

_"Gauche, you're buying too much, you know?" asked the Letter Bee besides him. "Besides, the cans on the right look tasty."_

_"Aria!" cried Gauche. "I thought the ones on the left look more tastier."_

_"Hmph! Then I guess I'll have to buy those then. And this is just to celebrate your promotion, okay?"_

_"T-thanks, Aria Link!"_

_"Next time, we'll celebrate properly!" After Aria handed Gauche the bag full of soup cans, she said, "I'll get lonely, but you've been working so hard..." Tears appeared at Aria's eyes. "So...congratulations!_

_Next scene shows the same girl that Lara saw before. It seems that she and Gauche are brothers and sisters, since they look so much alike. Either that or they're cousins._

_"Promotion?" questioned the girl surprised._

_"That's right, Sylvette!" exclaimed Gauche puting on his tie. "After I finish my next delivery, I'll be promoted and sent away from Yuusari to the captial Akatsuki! I know that we'll be separated for a while, but it's alright. Because as soon as I can, I'll send for you! I won't let you worry about being poor anymore! Because your big brother will become Head Bee in Akatsuki! After I become Head Bee, I'll definitely find a way to cure your legs! I'll work hard and earn tons of money! Our parents are here anymore but-" _

_He paused his sentence, because Sylvette was nowhere to be found. "Sylvette...?" He finally found her in her room, staring at the night cry with tears silently flowing down her cheeks. He reahced out his hand to her and she grabbed it softly. _

_"Syl...vette..." _

* * *

Lara's eyes opened slowly the second time that day. She looked at her hand, like she was expecting someone to hold it like what she saw in that last scene. The little girl looked around her and saw that Gauche and Roda were nowhere to be found.

"Gauche? Roda?" called out Lara, standing up quickly and grabbing the jacket that she used for a blanket. She walked around a bit and finally found both of them at the cave entrance, unconscious and injured. "Gauchen! Roda!" Then, Lara stopped and looked outside at the sky. It was filled of pure white stars falling from the sky once again. But more importantly, she noticed lots of defeated Gaichuu with their armor shattered and scattered all over the place. She was surprised at the number of broken armor laying about in the battlefield. There were that many Gaichuu and Roda and Gauche fought them off anyways?

Wait, now was not the time to freak out over how many Gaichuu there were! After all, both Gauche and Roda are really badly injured, and exhausted! Lara had to drag the two of them back inside the cave carefully so that she wouldn't wake them up. Then, she opened up Gauche's bag and started looking for some medical aid kit. Yes, she was skilled in first aid since her mother taught her, and she knew looking into someone else's bag is wrong, but this was a serious crisis. Lara then removed Gauche's shirt, blushing at the sight of his abbs, then carefull started bandaging the parts that were injured. After that, it was Roda's turn to be cured.

Once Lara was done, she had used up almost all the first aid equipment neccassary. She thought, _'Wow, they have really low first aid equipment. I wonder if they even bought more before heading on this journey.' _She covered Gauche and his dingo with Gauche's jacket. And if that wasn't enough, she also used her own cloak to cover them up more. This was her way of saying thanks, after all, they were the ones who saved her.

* * *

_The next day..._

"Ne, what's a Head Bee?" questioned Lara curiously.

"...What...?"

"Head Bee! I said, Head Bee! What is it?"

"...I see. You saw something after I shot you with that shindan yesterday. Head Bee is the one who holds the highest rank amongst the Letter Bees."

"So, they're like the captain of the Letter Bees or something?"

"Captain? Well, perhaps. They say there is no letter they can't deliver. Right now, there's only one Head Bee with that title. Other than important government deliveries, the Head only works in the capital, so I haven't even seen him yet. He's the one we Letter Bees aim for."

Lara started walking around and thinking really hard. Gauche asked her, "You didn't see anything else, did you?" Lara jumped on top of a rock, then turned to him with a grin on her face. "W-what's with that face?"

"That Sylvette girl is so KAWAII!~" sang Lara with glitters sparkling in her eyes with a more wide grin in her face. "I wish I could be as cute as her!~ How old is she?"

"She's 7 years old, the same age as you...wait, you even saw my little sister?"

Lara didn't answer that question as she leaped off the rock and started running down the road a bit. Then, she turned around and asked, "Gauche, you loooovvveee Aria, right?~ Did you go out with her?~" Without waiting for Gauche's reply, she continue running down the road. "Have you kissed her yet? Well? Have ya?~" Roda finally managed to catch up with Lara. "Did you rub her boobies?~"

Again, without waiting for his answer, Lara and Roda took off together, leaving Gauche in the dust. "...Jeez, this is why children are so hard to handle."

Both his dingo and Lara stopped moving, and Lara turned to Gauche, smiling down at him. "Don't worry, Gauche!~ You'll become Head Bee one day!~"

Gauche stopped at his tracks. He couldn't believe what he just heard. The annoying girl that whines about soup is actually encouraging him for once? And here he thought she was just going to keep teasing him about Aria or Sylvette!

Lara continued encouraging him, "The woman who runs the bread shop used to say it all the time: 'It's the jerks who'll get promoted!'"

The again, maybe she was just teasing him all this time.

During their travels to Lara's location, they encountered many events, like facing Gaichuu. During dinner, Lara and Roda would complain about the pukey soup and immediantly spit it out, shocking and upsetting Gauche. After dinner, Lara would go to sleep like any obediant little girl would and Gauche would watch over her until he fell asleep.

One time, Roda and Lara were trying to endure eating the soup, but it still tastes as nasty as ever. "It's still pukey..." Lara muttered.

"Please bear with it. I don't have any other food," pleaded Gauche sipping the soup like it was nothing.

_'You had that apple before. How can you call that nothing?' _thought Lara. "But me and Roda can't stand this disgusting soup!"

Gauche sighed and stood up. "I suppose it can't be helped then." Next thing you know, Lara and Gauche were both hiding behind a rock, spying on a strange white lizard creature crawling in the area.

"Gauche-"

"Shh!" hissed Gauche putting two fingers to his lips, signaling Lara to keep quiet.

"Hey, what would happen if you used a shindan?"

"Sometimes, you have to train the body to train the mind," explained Gauche quietly. "Don't worry, though! For I-" Gauche leaped from his hiding spot and towards the white creature. "-Will finally catch one today!" Unfortunely, the white creature slipped away before Gauchen could catch it and the Letter Bee fell down facedown.

Epic fail.

When Gauche opened his palms, he realized that he didn't catch the white creature. Lara, being the elegant lady she is, didn't even bother helping out Gauche with the Operation: Capture white creature. Instead, both of them had to eat digusting soup that night, with Gauche loving it, and Lara suffering from it.

A few minutes later, Roda came back with the white creature in her mouth. The same white creature they tried to catch to be exact. One second after they saw Roda and the strange lizard, Gauche and Lara cheered and quickly began cooking it.

Later, after they finished their feast of lizard, Lara grabbed her cloak before saying, "Goodnight," to both Gauche and Roda.

While the young girl was trying to find a good spot to sleep in, Gauche called to her," Lara Seeing." She turned to him and he continued, 'It'll be quite cold tonight. I'm not used to the cold, so would you like to sleep together with us tonight?"

Lara was surprised at his request, then heat flooded her cheeks. She hid her blushing face and said, "I...I don't really mind."

As soon as Lara sat next to Gauche and Roda, the trio looked up at the sparkling stars up in the dark night sky. "The stars are much brighter than I thought," admitted Gauche. "If we make haste, we might be able to reach Cambel Litus by tommorow."

"Really? Tommorow?" asked Lara excited.

"Yes." Lara grew silent, and the tried to snuggle herself with her cloak as a blanket. Gauchr asked another question, "Do you have anyone you would like to write a letter to, Lara?"

"No, never."

"Then, at least, one day, please try writing one."

"Why? I don't need to write a letter."

"Even a single word is fine. As long as there is someone wh will shead a single tear when they recieve it."

"Even...a single word?"

"People who live far away, letters are like the 'heart' of the people who write to them."

"WOOF! WOOF!" barked Roda at the edge of a cliff. Lara stood up and saw small fluffly white flowers falling slowly and softly down to the ground.

"It's the fluff from the chippa flowers that bloom of the white flowers in Jose's white desert. It means we will soon exit the mountain pass," explained Gauche.

But Lara wasn;t paying attention to the flowers anymore. She was more concerned about her mother, and the light that took her away. "The light...is so far away. ...What is a letter anyways?"

Gauche noticed the girl's tone so serious and Lara continued, "What about Mother? If... if you can send letters, send one to Mom!" Lara turned to him with tears wellming in her eyes. "Once we get to Cambel, I'll never see Mother again! After this, you'll be working in Akatsuki, right? Then take me to the capital! Take me with you to Akatsuki, Gauche! If I go to Akatsuki, I can find out who those bad guys who took Mother are! And I could even find Mother!"

"Lara...Unless you're called from into service by the government and obtain a crossing permit, those from Yodaka cannot cross the bridge to the Yussari Area," explained Guaren calmly. "What's more, only a few selected of the upper-class are able to obtain crossing permits into Akatsuki."

"But, you don't have one, Gauche?"

"You did slightly touched my memories from that shindan, right? Maybe that's why you're sprouting nonsense. But you probably wouldn't understand it just by that." Gauche pulled out a crossing pass and continued, " You couldn't possibly understand the burden of carrying this capital crossing permit. Even I must accumulate more work in order to send my entire family to Akatsuki. My sister has to stay in Yuusari for a bit longer."

Lara, confused and furious and Gauche's response, asked angrily, "Then why did those bad guys take Motherto Akatsuki?"

"That, I don't know. However, if she did in fact cross the bridge, it might not be as bad as it seems."

"But-"

"As I already explained, Lara Seeing, your circumstances are none of my concern. I cannot act as a close friend and become your strength."

As Gauche started walking away, Lara spoke up, "So...you're saying we can't be friends?"

"Getting you to Cambel, a letter, and unscathed, is the enterity of my job," replied Gauche stopping for a moment to answer her question. More tears appeared in Lara's eyes and started flowing down her cheeks She couldn't believe the older Letter Bee had told her that harshly and calmly. Didn't he understand how she felt and the situation they were in?

"I...I hate you so much! In fact, I hate all you Letter Bees!" screamed Lara wiping her tears away with her sleeve.

Gauche silently stared at her and finally said, "I don't mind if you don't like me. That is not a part of my job. Right, now please go to sleep. Tommorow, we will aim for Cambel at last. For now, rest your body and heart."

Lara sniffed her nose and dragged her cloak away with her while wiping her tears away. Gauche felt sorry for the girl, but getting friendly or not was not part of his job. Gauche closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.

* * *

_Later... _

Gauche woke up suddenly, forehead filled with sweat. He had an awfully strange dream, where he thought his sister Sylvette was crying and sitting in her usual wheelchair, but it happened to be Lara who was crying instead. Come to think of it, Sylvette and Lara do look a bit alike.

Wait, what was he saying? Anyways, where was Roda and Lara anyways? Gauche noticed that his shindanjuu was gone as well. "Shit! She took my gun as well!"

"That cold-hearted bastard, Gauche!" Lara angrily muttered marching with Gauche's gun in her hands. "My job this, my job that! I was stupid to trust a guy like that!" She managed to steal Gauche's gun after he fell asleep and sneak away. Roda, who was worried about the girl, had to follow Lara for her safety, since the dingo cared so much for the girl. But not as much as her master, Gauche. Why didn't she just go back to Gauche and wake him up to chase Lara? Perhaps she has an affection for the girl as well.

"I'll go crazy with this weird gun and bust right through the bridge!" Lara again muttered. "The burden of the crossing pass? Yeah, right! I'll make it to Akatsuki without that pass!" She turned to Roda and ordered, "Don't follow me, Roda!"

After Roda stopped moving, she sniffed the air and sensed something wrong. While the dingo was looking around, Lara stopped on her tracks. "Huh? I think we passed this place when we came. Or maybe I should have taken the compass and map too-"

**BOOM! **"Aaaaggghhhh!" screamed Lara as she was falling down a deep hole that was somehow created in the sand beneath her feet. Roda came to the edge and barked, worried. Luckily, Lara managed to grab hold on the sand, thus stopping her fall. Lara started coughing and then turned her head around and saw-

"A GAICHUU!" she screamed clutching tightly onto the sand. Then, the Gaichuu started pressing its large claws onto the ground, making the sand surround it collaspe and flow right towards it. Lara started to climb up really fast, but the current and speed of the sand was too much and her grip on the sand started to loosen and she felt herself falling down and the Gaichuu aimed a spear at her, preparing to impale her with it.

Then, something swooped her up and held tightly to her. Lara opened her eyes and saw Gauche holding one hand around her waist and the other holding onto his scarf, which Roda was hanging onto with her teeth. The spear struck Gauche's left side, creating a large bloody cut.

Lara gasped at the wound Gauche now recieved. "Gauche! Roda!"

"Stay calm, Lara!" commanded Gauche. "That's the Gaichuu, Buckers! They shoot a spear from their lower jaw! However, it takes some time for them to shoot it again. Now, Lara! Steady the gun!"

"Huh?" questioned Lara with wide confused eyes.

"I'll pull the trigger! Please steady the gun."

"O-okay." Lara got out the gun and aimed it carefully towards the Bucker. The stone of the black spirit amber started illuminating once more and it's power increased.

_'What is this? The spirit amber's power is increasing again!' _thought Gauche looking at the glowing spirit amber in astonishment. "Loaded! Kurobari!" A black ray came from the shindanjuu and hit the Bucker on its back.

"Did it work?" questioned Lara unsure due to the smoke that formed after the attack. After the smoke cleared, the Gaichuu was still standing and endured the attack like it was nothing. It managed to retrieved its spear back too.

"It didn't work? But why?"

"From this distance, it's pretty difficult to shoot a shindan into the gaps of its joints," explained Gauche. "But if we barge in carelessly, we'll die." As he was explaining, the wound that he received started to stain his uniform and he started gripping his scarf tightly. "However, we don't have many options. It's do or die." He turned to Lara and instructed, "We'll jump the moment the Bucker shoots its spear from its jaw."

"But there's no way, Gauche!" cried Lara. "You're bleeding too much, and you can't even hold the gun properly!"

'Don't worry."

"But-"

"I'll be fine. Whatever happens, you will be delivered to Cambel. Lara, inside you, you are a letter. And inside this letter, holds all your feelings and wishes and hearts and dreams." As Gauche was talking, Lara's eyes blimmed with tears once more. "By risking my life, I'll defiently deliver you to Cambel! Because that's a job of a Letter Bee!"

The Bucker rose up and looked prepared to strike its spear. "Here it comes!" Gauche turned to Lara once again. "Lara, if you want to be strong, then be brave and hold the gun steady!"

Lara nodded, agreeing even when her eyes are filled with tears. The Gaichuu fired its weapon, which on that moment, Gauche let go of the scarf and both of them safely slid down the sand.

"Shindan loaded!" Suddenly, there was a red light surrounding both Gauche and Lara, surprising both of them. _'What? This light,' _thought Gauche shocked. He looked at Lara and saw that her right eye was glowing red with an insect inside. _'Impossible! She has a red spirit amber as an artifical eye? So the shindan's power was increasing because it was resonating with Lara's eye?' _

**BAM! **The Bucker began to strike its spear towards the two again, but this time, separating them. "Lara!" shouted Gauche as he landed on the hard ground. "Shoot! Just shoot!"

Lara opened her eyes and pulled the trigger. **BANG! **The shindanjuu shot out a red ray and struck the Bucker on the inside of its jaw, making it into a shattered piece of armor and defeating it. As the armored bug was shattering, a loud illunminated the area.

* * *

_A young woman spoke in a gentle voice, "Lara...your left eye is a protective charm so that it may let you live...Because your life is a gift to me. It even gave me the joy of being a mother. I just wanted to stay like this...together...forever..." _

_Next scene shows Gauche and a crying Sylvette. Sylvette turned to her brother and begged, "I don't need a mom or dad or money or anything...I don't even care if I don't walk anymore...so please don't go! Stay...by my side...brother..." _

* * *

Gauche's eyes fluttered open a few times before he was finally awake. He realized that he was being carried by his letter he was supposed to deliver and that Roda was right besides her. He didn't understand why Lara was carrying him. He thought she despised him, hated him right from the very start.

"What...are you doing?" whispered Gauche weakly.

Huffing and panting for breath, Lara answered, "I'm a letter. I'm heart. I'm hope...so..."

"Lara..." mumbled Gauche before closing his eyes. Before he drifted to sleep, he said, "You...resonated with my heart..."

* * *

**DING! DONG! DING! **Gauche opened his eyes and found himself staring at a white ceiling. He felt a cool hand touch his and thought it was Sylvette, until he turned his head and saw a sleeping Lara touching his hand. "Lara?"

"Looks like you've finally woken up," spoke an unfamiliar voice. Gauche stood up and saw a lady glaring at him.

"Um...where are we?" he asked polietly.

"The port town of Cambel."

Gauche was shocked. Cambel Litus? Then that means-

"This kid walked miles carrying your almost dead body," continued the lady. "So you should be thanking-"

"Um! Excuse me!" interrupted Gauche. "Are you perhaps Mrs. Sabrina Mary?"

"That's right."

"I see!" He pulled something from his bag and it looked like some kind of important paper. "Then, please stamp or sign this delivery slip first!"

**BANG! **"GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" Next thing you know, Gauche and Roda were being thrown out of the house like rag dolls. Everyone who was nearby watched the whole scene unfold.

Mrs. Mary continued ranting, "This is why I hate cityfolk! How about thanking Lara, who's been nursing you back to health these past three days? What the hell do you mean sign first? !"

"A-aunt Mary! Please!" begged Lara trying to stop her aunt.

"Hush, Lara!" Mrs. Mary turned backj to Gauche and his dingo. 'Hurry up and go back to Yuusari or Akatsuki or wherever you came from!" With that, Mrs. Mary slammed the door shut and everyone who seen everything quickly left. Gauche managed to catch the slip in time however.

Later, while Gauche was walking through town, he noticed some of the townspeople staring at him and whispering things like, "Look, it's him!" or "That's the government employee from Yuusari!"

For the past few hours, Gauche and Roda has been trying to get food and water from the townspeople but they either said they run out or they told him to get lost. After a while, the Letter Bee and his dingo finally stopped and looked out to see the town from high.

"It seems we aren't welcomed here, Roda," Gauche told Roda.

"That's because this is an illegal port that harbors pirate ships from the open seas," said a familiar voice. Gauche turned to see Lara holding a large bag which seems to be full of food and water. "They're afraid of an outsider learning too much and spreading rumors. Here's some food and water. My aunt told me to take it to you. It's way better than that pukey soup you always had. But aunt just doesn't understand how difficult your job is."

"I see," said Gauche understanding. "I'm sure that she'll take care of my friend."

"Friend...?" Gauched walked towards Lara, bent down, and hugged her tightly as if she was his second sister, since he already has one.

"The delivery's complete, Lara. You were very brave, and you survived a lot of hardships. Together, we overcome and made it through that journey. You're not a letter anymore...you've grown to be strong, Lara Seeing."

Big fat tears appeared at Lara's face. 'So...we're friends now?"

"Yes..."

"Really? Friends?"

"Yes! And Roda too!" Then, at that moment, Lara started crying out loud and then muffled her cries deep in Gauche's uniform, while he comforted her and ruffled her head gently. It was like a brother and sister reunion, like they've never seen each other for a long time, like years. For Lara, she thought of Gauche as a big brother who's been taking care of her, while Gauche himself thought Lara as a second sister.

After Lara calmed down, she began ruffling Roda's fur and said, 'Take care, Roda." She turned to Gauche and explained, "My red eye is a stone with a mysterious power that Mother told me to keep safe. It was to cure a disease when I was born. But she said not to tell anyone about this. But she did tell me to tell it to people whom I trust at the bottom at my heart."

"...Thank you, Lara. Spirit amber is both powerful and valuable. Be careful that you don't get targeted. Also, when I get to Akatsuki, I'll try to locate your mother. I might find some clues to where she may have gone." As Gauche turned to leave, he spoke again," We have determined a new route. Not long will some Letter Bee come and visit this town and get their letter. Farewell, Lara Seeing."

"F-farewell...Gauche..."sputtered Lara, tears running down her cheeks again. "Um...I was thinking...that one day...One day, I wanna be a Letter Bee like you, Gauche!"

* * *

_Five years later... _

12-year old Lara Seeing was staring at the mountains with the breeze flowing past her. She was wearing a long white coat with blue pants and a blue scarf wrapped around her neck. Since her silvery hair had grown to medium long, she decided to tied it up and stuff it under her blue trademark cap silimiar to Letter Bees.

"Finally...I'll get closer...Mother! And Gauche! Just wait! I'll be a Letter Bee! Because I'm heading towards the light!"

* * *

**Hope: Whew! And this took two days to finish!**

**Lara: *cries* I can't believe I'm a girl! I don't even want to be one!**

**Hope: Still! You look really cute when you are one, Lara-chan!~**

**Sylvette: Yeah! You do look cute, Lag-I mean, Lara-chan!~ Now I really want to take you shopping for more dresses!~**

**Hope: Hey Connor! Zazie! What do you think?**

**Connor: *blushes* I think Lag looks cute as a girl!**

**Hope: Lara, Connor. Lara.**

**Zazie: *blushes but turns his head around so that no one can see* Um...You look great...**

**Hope: Good! Cause soon, Lara-chan will have some romance coming up and she'll have the boy she wants!**

**Zazie: WHAT? WHO, WHEN, HOW, WHY?**

**Everyone: 0.0**

**Zazie:Eh...I mean...who gets to do the disclaimer?**

**Sylvette: I guess I will? Mage of Hope doesn't own Tegami Bachi or any of the characters.**

**Hope: But I do have the ability to change people's genders!~ So then, next time! Also, to all readers! Please give me some ideas you think best for this story! Romance, humor, drama, or any other ideas! Thanks, I appreciate it! R&R!**


	2. Letter Bee and her Dingo

**Hope: Okay!~ Here's the first chapter and a new update!**

**Lara: But I thought the other chapter was the first.**

**Hope: No, no. That other one was the prologue. This is the official first chapter.**

**Zazie: But yuo only have one review. You sure you're okay with that?**

**Hope: Sure I have one review, but someone told me that it doesn't matter how many reviews I have, the main thing is to keep continuing. **

**Sylvette: Wow, that person must really be someone you admire, right?**

**Hope: That person happens to be a girl.**

**Everyone: ...**

**Hope: Disclaimer, please! Lara!**

**Lara: Oh! Um...Mage of Hope d-doesn't own Tegami Bachi!**

**Everyone: *thinks* She's so cute when she's blushing. **

* * *

In the Yodaka region, the southernmost port town called Cambel Litus, was where Lara Seeing was bought as a 'letter' delivered by Gauche Suede. Then, five years later, this time, Lara Seeing is about to experience on a journey once again, just like Gauche.

In order to become a Letter Bee.

* * *

**SLAM! **The door swung opened and it revealed to be an older woman, panting for breath. "Sabrina! That kid's ride is almost here!" she said.

"Is that so?" questioned Mrs. Mary still chopping some vegetables on a table.

The woman, shocked, still continued to question her. "What's the matter with you? And where is she anyways?"

"I'm sure Lara is in her usual spot."

"Oh, you mean the top of the cliff?" The woman sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Jeez! How can both of you remain calm like this? That Letter Bee is coming to pick her up, you know!"

Mrs. Mary smirked and she put down her knife. "Letter Bee, huh?"

* * *

_Flashback... _

_One rainy stormy night in Cambel Litus, Mrs. Mary was washing the dishes when she heard a child's voice call out, "Please, help me!"_

_"Hmm? Who could it be in this hour?" wondered Mrs. Mary to herself. She opened the door and a small child carrying a young man on her back collasped. She recognized the uniform that the young man was wearing. "A...letter Bee...?"_

_The child lifted up her head and Mrs. Mary recognized who it was. Her niece, Lara. "Aunt...Sabrina..." said Lara with tears running down her cheeks._

_"Lara?"_

_"Please! You have to help Gauche! Please!"_

_"But...he's a Letter Bee-"_

_"I don't care! You have to help him! He even risked his life to save me! PLEASE!" The last part, Lara screamed out at the top of her lungs, which was heard all over Cambel Litus, making lots of people confused. However, Mrs. Mary was surprised at her niece helping out a Letter Bee! SAhe knew the rules in Cambel Litus, yet she still helped out an outsider, and a Letter Bee at that too! Then again, when she looked at Lara's face, she felt her heart ache at the sight of her niece crying and felt like she should help the Letter Bee out. Quickly, she placed the Letter Bee's arm around her shoulder and carried him into the guest's room, which the tired Lara following behind her._

_A few weeks later..._

_"Sit!" ordered Lara. The dog in front of her was doing anything, instead just laying about lazily. "Sit! Sit! I said, sit!"_

_Meanwhile, Mrs. Mary was talking with her friend when they noticed Lara trying to order Mrs. Mary's dog around. Lara was trying to control and train her dog so that she can have a dingo like Gauche and Roda._

_Mrs. Mary's friend sighed and told Mrs. Mary, "She's just like your own daughter."_

_Mrs. Mary also sighed, exhausted, and replied, "I don't know how to deal with her, she's so stubborn!"_

_'Sit, boy! Sit!"_

_Then, several months later..._

_"Lara, if you don't go to sleep soon, you won't be able to receive enough sleep," called Mrs. Mary standing near Lara's doorway._

_Lara, who was reading a book, answered, "Just a few minutes."_

_"...Do you really want to become a Letter Bee that badly? You do know that they only accept males, not girls like you."_

_"Yeah. And I'll have to pretend to be a boy if I have to."_

_Mrs. Mary sighed at her stubborness, but smiled at her determination of becoming a Letter Bee, even if it means to become a boy. Since Gauche the Letter Bee left Cambel Litus, Lara dedicated herself into becoming a Letter Bee, studying everything there is to become one. But the little girl doesn't always do studying, she helps out around the house as well, and Mrs. Mary teaches her good manners and stuff like that. Mrs. Mary even thought of Lara as a daughter of her own, but it couldn't be physically possible, since she was her aunt and all._

_A few years later..._

_"Aunt Sabrina! Aunt Sabrina!" called out Lara cheerfully. She ran to her aunt and handed her a letter. "I passed the preliminary examination!"_

_"Really?" Mrs. Mary opened the letter and read it. "That's great, Lara! Good job!" _

* * *

Mrs. Mary sighed as she was loading some food into a container. "I can't believe five years passed by so quickly." She closed the lid on the container after she said that.

Meanwhile, a crowd was gathering around a young Letter Bee with a carriage. The Letter Bee handed a man a bag, "Here's your herbal medicine, Kopylov-san." He continuing handing people suuplies. "And this is the naughty magazine you requested, Hann-san."

"Shh! Not so loud!"

"You ordered what? !"

The plump Letter Bee took a bite out of his pizza as one citizen said, "Thanks to you Bees, we can get things from Yuusari. You really helped us out, Connor!"

"Don't mention it," muttered the Letter Bee named Connor who was busy stuffing his face with pizza. "To think I'd be able to the ultimate delicious pizza out here at the farthest point of Yodaka! If I'd known, I would have come a long time ago! Right, Gus?"

"Hey! Don't complain when you get fatter!" warned a citizen of Cambel Litus. That's when Lara appeared in the streets with her medium long hair tucked under her trademark cap, making her look like a boy 100%. Truth be told, she couldn't be a Letter Bee as a girl due to restrictions in the Bee Hive, so she had to diguse herself as a boy and going by the name, Lag Seeing.

Lara noticed the comotion and saw her best friend, Connor handing out supplies and deliveries. Besides that, she saw a horse carriage and exclaimed, "A horse carriage? So cool!"

Connor noticed Lara and said, "Hey, Lag! It'll never be a luxury model like those two horse carts, but this ain't bad for starting your journey, is it? Right, so we're-Hey! That's my ultimate pizza!" Connor's horse (sorry, I don't know his horse's name) started eating Connor's pizza while he was speaking to Lara.

"Adigato, Connor," thanked Lara bowing down her head. The gate that lead out of Cambel Litus opened wide, allowing anyone to exit.

"Make sure you say your goodbyes, Lag," informed Connor getting onto the carriage. "If you pass the interview exam for national government postal employees, then you won't be living here in Cambel anymore."

"R-right," said Lara hesitantly.

Then, one of the citizens handed Lara a pistol. "This is our farewell gift."

"A gun?"

"Hey, does that thing even work?" asked one of the citizens.

"Of course! It's really valuable!" argued the man who gave the pistol to Lara.

"Adigatou, Mr. Kokesu!" thanked Lara happily.

As Lara was putting her new gun away, one of the citizens said, "We'll miss you Lar-um, Lag."

"*sniff* T-this might actually be *sniff* our last meeting in this life," sobbed Mr. Kokesu.

"P-please stop, everyone," begged Lara. "If I become a Letter Bee, then I can deliver letters to Cambel instead of Connor."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh? Sabrina isn't here yet," announced Mrs. Mary's friend. Everyone was surprised and looked around, until they saw Mrs. Mary running towards the croud while carrying what seems a small lunchbox. Lara was shocked, but ran up to her aunt and hugged her like she hasn't seen her in years.

"Oof! Lar-Lag! I have something for you!" Lara looked up and saw her aunt hand her a lunchbox. "I thought you might get hungry during your journey, so I decided to pack you an obento."

Lara's eyes were filled with tears as she spoke, "Aunt Sabrina, thank you for everything up till now. Thank you!"

With those words, Mrs. Mary lifted her niece up in the air while tightly embracing her, which shocked all of the citizens and Connor, including Lara. Mrs. Mary spoke in a kind and soft voice, "I treated that Letter Bee really badly, but if you ever meet him again, please tell him that words can't express my gratitude for him." Lara felt something wet aside from her own tears and noticed her aunt crying as well. "For the new lease of life he gave to this old woman, the gratitude and I feel for this irreplacable letter he delivered to me."

More tears appeared at Lara's face. "Aunt! I love you too! You're like a second mother to me!"

Mrs. Mary embraced Lara even tighter. "Goodness! It seems that I've become a crybaby like you! Until you can meet Anne, your true mother, do your best! You'll definitely become a great Letter Bee, Lag Seeing!"

Later, while Connor and Lara were leaving Lara's town by the horse carriage, Lara looked back at her town with tears filling her eyes. The twon seemed to be getting farther and farther away from her, like she'll never see it again.

_'Goodbye...Aunt Sabrina...Goodbye...Cambel Liitus...And goodbye,,,everyone!' _

"Hey, Lag!" shouted Connor interrupting the girl's thoughts. "What an incredible number of spores."

"It's the fluff from the chippa flowers," corrected Lara. _'Wait...Chippa flowers?' _Lara remembered the time she spent with Gauche and Roda, looking out into the distance and staring at the chippa flowers falling to the ground like clouds. This is the second time she's seen them, yet...

_'Just wait...Mother...! Gauche...! I'll...definitely become a Letter Bee and come to you both!' _

While they were still riding, Connor spoke up. "Hmmm...we'll both be late if we don't hurry."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, the governments special train only stops at the coal mine for once a week. We'll be in huge trouble if we miss it."

"Does Gauche know about it?"

"No clue. Didn't you ever get a letter from Gauche?"

Lara shooked her head. "I guess it can't be helped. I bet he's really busy in the capital. He has to work hard if he wants his sister Sylvette to come and live with him. After all, Gauche wants a promotion to the highest title any Letter Bee can get, Head Bee!"

Connor only grew silent with a troubled and serious look on his face. He didn't say anything else during the ride and just focus on getting to the train station.

* * *

_In Altone Coal Mine Train Station... _

"It's Connor, right? Thanks for using the Rental Carriage Rocking Pony Challenge!" thanked a man whom Connor paid him money for borrowing the carriage.

After the man left, Connor turned to Lara and asked, "By the way, where's your dingo? Weren't you training a dog in Cambel?"

Lara was startled by the question, then sighed and answered, "About that...he wouldn't listen to a single thing I said, even though he was completely obedient to Aunt Sabrina."

"Lag, you're either too kind, too soft, or too weak. Or maybe you're just too incompetent."

Lara just sweatdropped and thought, _'You're not helping here, Connor.' _

"If you're aiming to become a Bee, you'll need to be pretty tough underneath that kindness of yours. Just like me!" boasted Connor pointing one finger towards his dog dingo, Gus, who was sleeping on his back.

"Connor..."

"A Bee's strengths, abilities, and techniques are based on what kind of dingo they have! In this case, you could say that your specialty was kindness."

"Please, enough with the teasing. I guess I'm not really good with dogs. Is it okay to have something other than a dog as a dingo?"

"Yeah! If you train it properly, you can even tame a lion or an panther! Or, if you have enough money, you can hire someone."

"...That's not going to help me much for a useless person like me," muttered Lara to herself. Then, she stepped on a piece of stone and looked down. Beneath her feet was a broken statue. "Huh? A broken statue?" She looked to her left and saw what seems to be another statue. "That's weird, there's another whole statue."

The 'statue' suddenly opened its eyes, revealing wide blue eys, and startling Lara and making her take a step back. Lara took a few steps forward and saw a little girl with golden hair tied in pigtails while wearing a pink dress. She seems all dirty and dusty, considering that she's been in the niche for who knows what.

_'Huh? A small girl? In the niche?' _thought Lara astonished. _'Wait...sea blue eyes...and golden hair? N-no way...she's...!' _

"Eh?What's wrong, Lag?" asked Connor coming towards her.

"Ack! Gomenasai! You're using the toilet! Sorry!" apologized Lara who bowed her head.

"No, that's not it," said Connor.

"Huh?" When Lara lifted her head, she saw a delivery form on her right arm, which happened to Lara when she got rescued by Gauche. "Is that...?"

"This kid's just luggage held temporary by the station," explained Connor. "She's easily frightened, so she winded up here."

"So...this girl is a letter?"

"Seems like she got mixed with the fright about a few days ago. But the thing is...she doesn't have enough postage, the delivery's sender is unknown, and there are too many unknown things on the delivery form, so this kid can't be considered a letter."

"You mean she can't be delivered?"

"Yeah, and since she can't be returned, they'll hold her here for a certain period of time, and then she'll be officially abandoned."

"Abandoned? ! You can't be serious!"

"Don't make that face! But this is kinda a good thing too, since she'll be let free."

"Let...free..? What happens then?"

"This coal mining town doesn't have any place to take her in. I feel sorry for her, but there's nothing we can do about it."

'But, still...!"

"We have to get going, Lag. The train will be leaving soon."

As Connor turned to leave, Lara bent down and said softly to the girl, "Don't be afraid. I'm Lag Seeing. Will you please let me see the slip on your arm?" The girl lifted her right arm, revealing the slip. "Yeah, that! Hmm...looks like the destination is Love Someone Down, in the town of Rent? Some kind of orphanage?"

"Oi, Lag! What are you doing?" asked Connor also bending down.

"...Connor? Are you really sure there's no way she can be delivered?"

"There's no way! Bees can't deliver illicit packages! It'll be violating the rules then!" **DING! DONG!**"Ack! The final depature bell! Lag! We're going!"

"...Connor. I can't just leave her here. This kid was the same when I was young. If I haven't found Gauche at that time, I wouldn't know what to do. And when I think about it, I can't leave this kid behind either."

"But even so...Letter Bees aren't allowed to take on deliveries with deficiencies."

"But I'm not a Letter Bee yet, so if I deliver her, then the rules don't matter, right Connor? RIGHT?"

"Hmm..." Connor was in deep thought, then started mumbling to himself. "If she was abandoned before she was offically abandoned...but she had a postal delivery slip on...but still..."

"Um...Connor?"

Finally, Connor handed Lara a slip of paper. "This is a temporary crossing permit with your name on it, Lara. If you have this, then you're allowed to cross the bridge to Yuusari with a dingo. However, now that you won't make it to the train in time, you'll have to go by foot and catch up in time for the interview in Yuusari's post office."

"Adigatou, Connor!" cried Lara hugging the plump boy. "You're so kind and sensitive like my aunt!"

"..."

**CHOO CHOO! **As the train started moving, Connor called out from the window, "Make sure to arrive on the day of the interview, Lag!"

"Thanks for everything, Connor!" called back Lara waving back at him.

As Lara was waving at him, Connor smiled and thought, _'Huh. So maybe kindness isn't such a bad thing at all.' _

**WHAM! **"Ow! What was that?" questioned Connor rubbing his face. Next thing he saw was a flier on the ground, and picked it up curiously. "Huh? What's this? **_'Freak Show-Love Someone Down.'_**Love Someone Down? Wasn't that..."

* * *

"So...according to the copy of Connor's map, it looks like the rock path is all there is to it. But people still use that path, so it should be fine as long as we don't enter the Broccoli Forest in the east which contains armored Gaichuu. My mission is to deliver you to your destination, Love Someone Down!" Lara offered her hand to her 'letter'. "I'm Lag Seeing! What's your name?"

The girl just stared at Lara for a second before answering,"My name is...Maka."

"Maka, huh? That's a pretty great na-"

"Jenny. Carol. Susan. Elizabeth. Kerry. Jinmei. Abbey," the girl replied while walking past Lara. "And many more.

"What's your real name?"

"Don't have one."

"You don't have one? Not even one you like best?"

"Nope."

_'I see,' _thought Lara understanding the situation. _'The poor thing must have transferred from orphanage to orphanage.' _Lara caught up to the golden-haired girl and asked, "I-is it okay for me to give you a temporary name, then?" The girl just kept on walking, ignoring Lara. Then, Lara thumped her fist into her palm. "Soka! How about Niche?"

The girl stopped and looked at Lara, surprised. "Niche?"

"W-well it can mean like a gap or a small opening! B-but orignally, it meant a special place for the statue of a holy mother or somewhere important for flowers! I-I got that idea when you were in that hollow gap back in the train station. S-so what do you-"

"I don't like it!" said the girl harshly, shattering Lara's hopes and dreams. Actually, she was so shocked, that she had frozen like a block of ice. While they were walking, the pig-tailed girl stopped and sniffed the air.

"The wind's blowing some fog in our way," responded Lara. "But this path is connected to the coal mine, so there shouldn't be any dan-"

**BOOM! **The ground collasped, but not in Lara and her letter's direction. They were super lucky that they didn't collasped with the ground, but that doesn't mean that their luck will happen again in the next event. What happened next was what seems to be a Gaichuu that appeared in front of them.

"A Gaichuu?" exclaimed Lara. She quickly took off her bag and started searching for something to help defend her and her letter. "Come on, come on! Gun, gun, where is it?"

**POW! **"Ow!" yelled Lara clutching her head in pain. She looked up and saw both the girl and the Gaichuu leap into the air. This was jsut a guess, but Lara suspected that the girl used her head as a trampoline to shoot herself in the air for who knows what reason. The soon-to-be Letter Bee watched the battle unfold epically. She saw her letter kick the Gaichuu with the heel of her boot and the Gaichuu fell to the ground with a large crash. Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Turns out, the Gaichuu was actually some rock snake that happened to be crawling by.

The girl turned to Lara and said, "You're...really weak." Lara watched with her jaw dropped as the girl leaped off the rock she was standing on so easily.

_'Mr. Kokesu gave me an old gun for the time being, but I haven't shot even a single bullet since five years ago. At any rate, I can't believe I got worked up over a stupid rock snake, how pathetic,' _thought Lara as anime tears silently appeared at her face. She watched as the girl leaped from rock to rock. _'Still, what's with her strength and reflexes? Is she really a he?' _

"It's a river!" called out the girl.

"Huh?" Lara ran to where the girl was and saw a beautiful, clean, and clear river gleaming in the moonlight. "Wow...you're right! What a beautiful river! Thank goodness! let's rest here for a while." She looked up at the girl and asked, 'Don't you want to wash your face or-"

**Swoosh! **Lara felt a breeze past her and saw the girl leaping from the cliff of the rock and it showed...that she had no underwear on whatsoever! Lara was busy gawking over what just happened. Her face was flushing red and she sputtered, "S-she r-really i-is a g-g-irl..." Then, she realized that once the girl got to her destination, she wouldn't have any underwear on...and if the people at the orphanage discovered...it might be a catastorphe! "Hey wait!" called Lara chasing after her letter, not caring that her pants and boots were getting wet.

"Hold still..." ordered Lara rubbing her letter's face clean with a wet towel.

"That's enough," said the girl.

"Nope, just a bit longer. You have such pretty long hair, is that real?" Then, Lara stopped cleaning and put away her towel. "Okay, all clean. Even your forehead is shining." Lara began searching for something in her bag once more. "Okay, next is-"

The girl realized what Lara was starting to pull out and leaped towards a high rock, sitting on it. "W-wha-? Hey!" Lara pulled out one of her girls underwear and showed it to her letter. "I know they're a bit big, but it's better than nothing! Please, come down and put on this brand-new underwear!"

"Don't wanna. I don't need them."

"Yes you do! You really do! You're a girl, aren't you?"

"...You don't seem to be a person who does bad things, but that's going too far. Why do you have girls underwear anyways?" asked the letter.

Lara blushed and looked down. "Um...ah...i-it's complicated!" She then looked back at the girl and replied, "Hey, from now on, I know you're going to be living in a place you don't know. See I...there was a time when I was a letter, just like you, and I was delivered to a town I didn't know by a Letter Bee. Back then, I was uncertain about everything, that I didn't know what to do. But...today, when I was setting out from that town, everyone was wishing me well and crying as they sent me off! I'm sure the next place will cherish you, that there's someone who'll hold you dear and love you! I'm sure of it! No matter if you're a good girl, if you meet people for the first time, there'll be a misunderstanding! Especially since you're so beautiful!"

Suddenly, the girl jumped off the ledge of the rock she was sitting on and plumped down to the ground like a boulder, except she was perfectly fine. Lara however, got knocked off her feet in shock.

'...Did you just call me beautiful?" asked the girl.

"I-I did. And your eyes give off a pretty color too!" admitted Lara a bit shaken up.

The girl's face turned bright red, and she jumped in the air once again. This time, she landed in front of Lara while wearing the new girls underwear that Lara prepared for her.

"Lag Seeing," replied the girl.

"Eh?"

"You are the first person who's ever gotten me to wear underwear!"

"Ah...ha ha ha..." said Lara ruffling her head sheepishly. Then, the letter noticed a scrap of blood on her hand.

"It's blood!"

"Huh?" Lara stopped ruffling herself and glanced at her hand, which indeed had a bit of blood on it. "Oh! This is nothing! It's just a tiny bit. It must have been when you jumped down, a rock nicked me." Then, Lara started licking the wound on her hand, thus stopping the bleeding. "I can't believe how easily you can climb and jump down. You must like climbing so often."

"...Do you lick places that hurt?"

"Eh?"

Instead of waiting for Lara's answer, the girl leaped up towards another rock once again. When she landed, she announced, 'Then I've decided." She turned around. "I'll use that name, 'Niche.' So, call me Niche, Lag."

Lara then smiled at Niche's acceptance for using her name, and nodded her head in agreement. "Yup! Let's hurry to your destination, Niche! Also, please come down here! I have a surprise for you!"

"What is it?"

"If I tell you, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, wouldn't it?"

"Hmmm..." Then, Niche jumped off the rock and landed in front of Lara for the second time that day. 'What is it?"

"Here!" Lara handed Niche her obento she obtained from her aunt. "You must have been really hungry after being transferred for so long."

"? But doesn't Lag need to eat as well?"

"Don't worry! You need it more than me! Eat up!" After Lara handed her obento to Niche, she watched as the small girl took a spoonful of rice and stuff it on her mouth. Niche's eyes widen and she began eating faster and faster.

"It's that good, huh?" asked Lara delighted that Niche liked her aunt's cooking. "My aunt's one of the best cooks back in my town."

"Hmm?" By the time Niche looked up to face Lara, she already finished her meal.

"You ate it that quickly?" screeched Lara shocked.

* * *

_A few hours later... _

"We're here, Niche!" Lara told Niche. She double checked Niche's delivery slip to make sure they were in the right place. Sure enough, they were in front of Love Someone Down, which happened to be lots of large tents that look like they've come from a circus.

Then, a man walked out of one of the tents and noticed Niche and Lara. "Um, excuse me!" called Lara.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Um...ah..." started Lara timidly. "I-is this Love Someone Down?"

"Yes, why?"

"W-well, I came to deliver a letter addressed here."

"A letter, you say?" shouted the man surprised.

"H-hai!" answered Lara startled.

"...Wait there." With that, the man returned inside the tent. Afterwards, Lara sighed in relief.

Then, Niche sniffed the air, then ran inside the tent. "No, Niche!" cried Lara. "Don't! We're not allowed!" Lara ran after Niche who was already inside the tent. "That man said we're not...allowed..."

Once the two of them were inside, they saw lots of creepy dangerous animals trapped in cages everywhere. It seems too creepy to even be called a circus, or rather, too creepy to even call this a tent. It seems more like a torture house for dangerous animals only. Or this was probably a pets shop for dangerous animals.

"Whoa...that's a ton of animals," muttered Lara. "If only I had one of them as my dingo..."

'Dingo?" questioned Niche looking at the twelve-year old.

Lara turned to her, nodding her head. "Yeah! They work with Letter Bees as a partner and a companion."

"Like the dog that fat man had?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't neccassary have to be a dog. As long as it's trained, any animal will do. And it doesn't have to be animals, it can be strong people. Like, martial artists or something like that." While both of them were having a conversation, they were looking at the animals in the cages, though they were rather strange animals that's never been seen. Even more, they had bloody cuts all over their bodies.

"Oh? They're covered in wounds," spotted Lara. "But why?"

"Is someone there?" called out a man's voice. Lara turned around in shock and saw a different man carrying a whip. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"G-gomen!" apologized Lara. 'I was just looking around, that's all!"

"You...you plan to steal our animals, didn't you? You sneaky little brat!" The man used his whip to strike Lara, but he missed on purpose and made Lara fall to the ground, uninjured.

"Ahhh!" she screamed, scared. There was no way out of this and she would never attack someone with her gun. But there was three ways to end the dangerous situation they were in, and that was a) Tackle the man and then run away, b) Open all of the cages really quickly and watch as the man gets eaten, or c) Just run for it. Lara would definitely choose C, since she is kind-hearted and would never hurt anyone. However, Niche would choose B, since she is a little merciless and wanted to harm the man for attacking her Lag.

"Hold it!" shouted another voice.

"Impresario!" said the man with the whip startled. The impresario ran past his employee and in front of Niche and Lara.

As soon as he arrived, he was on his knees, huffing and panting for breath. "You're the Letter Bee, aren't you?" he asked Lara.

"Um, no. I'm just-"

Not waiting for her reply, the impresario turned his head to Niche. 'And you brought this girl here?"

The man with the whip then bent down to Niche and took her arm. "Here, let me see your arm. Ah!" As soon as the man touched her arm, Niche jerked her arm back so hard, that the man got knocked off his feet. He got up and whispered something to his boss. "There's no mistaking those arms."

The impresario said to Lara, "Ah! Thanks for coming! I was getting worried because she was taking so long to arrive!"

"There were a lot of things missing on the delivery form, so I brought her instead of a Letter Bee," replied Lara.

"As long as you delivered her, it's fine! You did a good job! Here's your tip!" The impresario opened Lara's palm and handed some money to her. Then, both him and the man walked towards Niche and the trio started walking away.

"N-niche!" called Lara.

"Thank you," called back Niche softly. "Lag, goodbye." With that, the two men and Niche walked inside the tent, never to be seen again. Lara just stood there, unknown of what this feeling was. She thought it was like the time when she was traveling farther and farther away from Cambel Litus, and that Niche leaving is the same thing, going farther and farther away, and never to be seen again.

"Niche..."

As Lara was heading to her destination, Yuusari, for her Letter Bee interview, she just now realized that the slip wasn't signed by the impresario after she fished her hands into her pocket. "Oh, shoot! I didn't get them to sign a delivery receipt!"

Meanwhile, two travelers and their camel were climbing up the mountain path when they noticed a small kid with silvery hair coming their way. One of them told his partner, "Great! Let's ask the kid!" He called out, "Did you come from Rent?"

"Y-yes I did," answered Lara.

"Then, there's a freak show called, **'Love Someone Down,' **right?"

"What...? A freak show? Then, that place was...!"

"Ah! So you did see it! That's great!" The taller man turned to his plump partner. "Did you hear that? It was really there!" The taller man handed Lara a filer and explained, "After we saw this, we came up by foot from the coal mine. But my brother here was going on about what nonsense it was!"

"You're too easily fooled!" scolded his brother. "We'll probably be ending up paying an entrance fee, and then everything will be fake!"

While the two brothers were arguing, Lara muttered to herself as she read the filer, "_**Exhibition tent, Love Someone Down. Finally arrived! Exhibition open! A girl who received the blood of Maka, an extinct legendary creature. A child born cursed to bear the 'golden swords' on her body."** _

"Everything about this 'Maka' is mysterious," explained the plump man. "It's like a dragon with a golden mane and sea blue eyes. Though it's cruel and vicious, it has such a beautiful appearance. They say that it's revered up in the northern frontier. But I've never heard of anyone who's actually seen it!"

"Where's your sense of adventure, you dunce?" shouted the taller man to his brother. "For men who don't understand romance, they do this!" He stuck two fingers up his brother's nose, making him cring.

Lara began thinking back at what Niche and her saw back in the tent. Wounded, bloody, abused, and cut animals in cages...who knows what they could do to poor innocent Niche! Niche seemed like she wanted to stay with Lara, but since she heard about Lara's past a bit, she must have thought the same thing could happen to her. Man! What was the soon-to-be Letter Bee thinking! Now they'll definitely punish Niche for something she hasn't done! Lara decided to go rescue Niche, by force or not!

The crossdresser quickly climbed on the camel the travelers had, which was difficult to control since it was moving too much and making camel noises. "Sorry! I'm borrowing this!" shouted Lara to the travelers before riding away from the travelers with the camel she 'borrowed'.

"Hey! Wait right there!" shouted the taller man as he and his brother chased after her. About several minutes later, Lara lost sight of them and finally arrived back to Rent Town only to see the Love Someone Down tent falling apart and being sliced.

"The tent?" exlaiomed Lara shocked at what she was seeing. Then, the twelve-year old saw Niche flying through the air with a fierce look in her eyes. "Niche!"

Meanwhile, the three men that worked in Love Someone Down including the impresario crawled out of the fallen town unscathed. However, their captured, injured animals were already freed from their cages and running away.

"My...my Love Someone Down!" complained the impresario. "That brat not only destroyed the cages, but my tent as well!"

Soon, Lara arrived at the scene, looking for Niche. "Niche!"

"Ah, you boy!" called the impresario. 'Where have I seen you before? At this rate, all my precious rare creatures are gonna escape! I'll pay you if you round them up!"

"Sorry! I'm in a hurry! I'm giving you back the tip from eariler!" shouted Lara throwing the coin to the impresario before chasing after Niche. As Lara chased after Niche, she thought, _'This is bad! Niche ran towards the Gaichuu territory! The Broccoli Forest!' _As Lara was running deep into the forest, she thought only Niche's safety. Lara thought it was her own fault for leaving Niche in a dangerous place with dangerous abusive circus people. Maybe she should have left Niche back at the train station and let her go free instead of brining her to an unhappy place. But if she did that, she would never call herself a Letter Bee if she doesn't deliver letters, even unofficial letters. So from now on, when Lara finally found Niche, she would...protect her!

"Niche!" shouted Lara happily when she found her. However, her happiness didn't last long when she saw what was in front of the former letter. In front of Niche...was a Gaichuu.

"The Gaichuu, Four Roses! Niche, run!" yelled Lara getting out her gun.

"Lag? Why are you here?" asked Niche turning to her.

Lara didn't answer as she pulled her gun out. _'No use! Bullets don't work against Gaichuu! And this gun doesn't have a spot for a spirit amber!' _

Then, the Four Roses swiped a claw towards Niche, who appearently dodged it. "Niche!" shouted Lara concerned. _'I've got to remember that time when I shot a shindan!' _

"Shindan loaded!" commanded Lara. When she saw that nothing happened to the gun, she figured that would happen and warned Niche, "Run Niche! RUN!"

Instead, Niche mysteriously and suprisely used her pigtails as a helicopter and flew up to the Gaichuu. Then, she used one of her pigtails and sliced the Four Roses head off, making Lara run to a safer distance so that she can avoid the impact of the head.

"What are you doing here, Lag?" asked Niche again for the second time. Being able to see you again, I-"

**ROAR! **Niche was interrupted due to a roar from the Four Roses Gaichuu, meaning it's still alive.

_'It's still moving?' _thought Lara shocked. _'I guess you really can't destroy it without the shindan!' _Then, she saw the Four Roses try to strike Niche from behind using its claws to.

"NICHE!" screamed Lara tacking her. Both of them rolled down to the side, making the Four Roses miss its strike. When both of them regained control, Lara saw that her cap had fallen off, revealing her hair, but she didn't care at the moment. She was more concerned about Niche and more worried when she saw Niche's head started bleeding. "Niche! Did you hit your head?" Lara heard the Four Roses approaching and pointed her gun towards it.

"Lag..." spoke Niche weakly. "I'm...glad I was able to see you again..."

With that, Lara's eyes welled up with tears and new determination was found inside her as her red spirit amber on her left eye started glowing. She felt really determined to defeat the huge Gaichuu in front of her and ready to avenge her friend, Niche.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" she screamed to the heavens. "Shindan loaded! GOOOO!" **BANG! **A red flare ray fired from the gun Lara was lended and blasted the Gaichuu from the inside, completely defeating it and destroying it. As soon as the armor crashed the ground, Lara fell unconscious from putting too much heart energy in the blast.

"Ngh..." mumbled Niche waking up. When she woke up, she saw the Gaichuu defeated and sparkling stars slowly falling to the earth. Other than that, she saw memories from Lara's past. One about when Gauche said his farewell to Lara, when her aunt and everyone else in Cambel Litus said farewell to the girl, and the memory of Lara's mother being taken away. And finally, the memory of Niche saying goodbye to Lara.

"Niche...?" whispered Lara. Niche looked down at the supposed man who first gave her underwear and was surprised to see Lara in her true appearance. "You're there, right...Niche? Niche...thank goodness...I'm so glad that I can...see you again..." Lara seemed to be injured from the impact after the Gaichuu was defeated, since she had a bloody wound on her forehead. Niche got on Lara's chest and started licking the wound with her tongue.

Lara started giggling while Niche was licking her like a dog. 'Ahahahahaha! N-niche!"

"Stop moving," ordered Niche. "If I lick it, it'll heal quickly."

"It tickles! And you're heavy! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! P-please s-stop!"

"...I've done everything by myself," admitted Niche after she stopped. "Someone who licks when it hurts, someone who made me wear underwear for the first time, you're the first one who's ever done that, Lara."

"Niche?" asked Lara surprised. She couldn't believe that Niche had figured out she was a girl! How? Oh, right. Lara wasn't wearing her cap. Actually, the real reason was because Niche saw every single memory of Lara and figured out she was a girl.

"If...if saying goodbye makes you sad, Lara," continued Niche. "Then, I'll stay by your side."

"Niche..."

"Does saying goodbye makes you sad?"

"...Yeah, that's right. Saying that does make me sad," admitted Lara with more tears springing from her tears as she smiled. Niche also smiled despite the fact that she's been injured.

Later, they finally got out of the Broccoli Forest a bit injured, but only with minor cuts. Lara turned to Niche and apologized, "Gomenasai. Niche, it was because I transferred you to that place that-"

"Don't worry. I'm used to it. Also, was your job a failure?" Lara looked at Niche's right arm and saw that the delivery form has been ripped and shredded.

"Have a look!" pointed out Lara. "Address unknown! So now you're free, Niche."

"I'm not just Niche," replied Niche calmly as she leaped on top of a rock, staring down at Lara. "If Big Sis Lara wants to be a Letter Bee, Big Sis Lara needs a dingo in that Yuusari place, right? The fat boy said so. So, Niche has become **'Niche, Big Sis Lara's dingo!'**"

* * *

**Hope: Whew! Another two dayas of typing up this chapter! Man! I can't wait for my vacation next week!**

**Zazie: Hmmp! You're too weak! That chapter looks so easy to type!**

**Hope: I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TYPE THIS CHAPTER FOR TWO DAYS BAKA NEKO!**

**Sylvette: By the way, why choose the name, Lara? Why not choose a different cute name?**

**Hope: *regains calm* Huh? Isn't it already a cute name? Besides, I choose it because I read it in the manga about her name being Lara. Then what's your opinion about her name?**

**Sylvette: *gleaming eyes* Weeelllll I'd like Lag's name to be Leila or Lala or...I know! Sylvette Junior!**

**Everyone: *sweatdrops and thinks* That last one is just wrong.**

**Sylvette: *grabs Lara's hand* Come on, Lara!~ We're going shopping!~**

**Lara: *anime tears* NOOOOOO! SAVE ME!**

**Everyone: *waves goodbye to him***

**Hope: Anyways! Hello to all readers! Please feel free to review and give me any great ideas you've got! PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU!**


	3. A Letter Bee's heart! In Kyrie!

**Hope: Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, but I finally have time to do this!**

**Zazie: Where have you been?! We've been waiting for MONTHS!**

**Hope: Get that finger out of my face, baka neko, before I shove it up in the spot where the sun doesn't shine! And I've been busy, with school and updating stories!**

**Connor: Ooh! **

**Sylvette: Looks like the author's pretty pissed at ya, Zazie!**

**Hope: Anyways, as punishment, Zazie! You will read the disclimaer...for however many chapters until I say to stop!**

**Zazie: What? No way!**

**Hope: Don't forget, I always remember about the finger thing I mentioned!**

**Zazie: Grr...Mage of Hope does not own Tegami Bachi...though she does make a terrible author-**

**Hope: LA LA LA! Anyways, let's get this show started!**

* * *

"Neh, Niche," called out Lara as she and her new-found dingo, Niche, were walking down the road. "What's that thing on top of your head?"

"This?" asked Niche pointing to a weird...strange white creature with a strange moustache. "He's called, 'Steak!'"

"Um...Steak?" wondered Lara. Then, she thumped her fist into her palm as if she just figured out something. "Oh! I see! Is he a rare animal that followed you from **_'Love Someone_ Down?'** But, then why do you call him Steak?"

"'Cause he'd taste bad if you didn't cook him," replied Niche like it was the most obvious thing.

"You're going to eat him?! You're joking, right?!" exclaimed Lara shocked. She picked up 'Steak' and looked at him like he was one of the cutest stuffed animals in the world. "Aw!~ But he so adorable! This little guy...he's definitely an animal, right? And he has such a sweet face!"

"Be careful, Big Sis Lara," warned Niche hopping onto a rock. "You're gonna get eaten."

"Huh?" Lara looked at Steak just in time to see him open his mouth wide open to reveal huge sharp fangs. "HYYAAAAAAA!"

**CRASH! **Unknownely, Lara threw Steak towards a huge boulder, making him crash towards it head on.

"Aaaaahhh! G-gomensai!" apologized Lara rushing towards Steak and craddling him in her arms carefully. She thought, _'His whole mouth is his body?!' _

"Big Sis Lara!" called Niche. Lara looked up and saw a huge town and a large church a few miles away.

"Wow..." said Lara astonished. "That's the town of Kyrie down there. And what a great church they have, and with a huge bell. I bet you can hear it ringing all the way past the bridge in Yuusari. Ne, Niche?"

"What is it, Big Sis Lara?"

"Look," Lara said pointing to something in the town. "Over that direction is Bifrost, the bridge that connects Yodaka and Yuusari. We're almost there, Niche! Soon, I'll become a Letter Bee, and you'll be my dingo!"

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the town... _

"What's your problem?! You're a Bee, just like him, right Moc?! Please, just take this letter to Jiggy!" shouted a young woman. You see, letter Bee and the young woman are currently arguing over a letter. "It's an important letter written from my little brother!"

The Letter Bee read the address of the letter outloud, "'To Jiggy Pepper, at the Bee Hive in Yuusari.' You seriously think that it can be delivered with just that on it?"

"You know that I can't afford those crazy expensive stamps!" argued the woman. "In that case, bring Jiggy here!"

"Jiggy Pepper is a Bee specializing in express deliveries, and travels from town to town," explained the Letter Bee calmly. "If he has a delivery, then he'll be coming here. Just wait here until then. Here in this 'Dead-End Town.'"

After the Letter Bee left with his carriage, the woman was left standing, angrily shaking her letter furiously. "Waiting? It's not just about waiting...Damn it...!"

* * *

_Back with Lara and Niche... _

As Lara and Niche were approaching the small and tranquil town, they heard nothing except the winds blowing and people moaning and groaning and agony. They saw many homeless people, including an old woman who was selling apples, which weren't helping much.

Finally, Lara met some young woman sitting on some steps and ran towards her, asking, "Um...excuse me? I'm a traveler, so can you please tell me what day it is?"

"...It's the 15th Bell on the 30th," replied the woman quietly.

"Thank goodness! Thank you very much!" sighed Lara in relief as she bowed her head. She turned to her soon-to-be dingo and said, "Niche! Let's go! If we cross the bridge early tommorow morning, we should actually make it for the day of the interview! Right! So, let's treat ourselves at staying at an inn!"

"An inn?"

Suddenly, the woman stood up and questioned, "Wait, did you guys say that you're crossing the bridge?"

"Huh? Yes.."

"Do you have a crossing pass to get to Yuusari?"

"Um...uh...yes..."

"...Yeah right," scoffed the woman. "You somehow got one at a black market, right? Just give up. If they find out it's fake,you'll be shipped off to do hard labor in the deepest Spirit Amber mine you can imagine."

"But..it's real!" protested Lara. She pulled out her crossing pass from her bag and showed it to the woman. "Although, it's only temporary."

"! A temporary crossing pass, you say?"

"Yeah! My name's Lar-um...Lag Seeing! I'm on my way to Yuusari for the interview test to become a Letter Bee! This girl here is my friend, Niche! And this is Steak."

"Say, 'Niche, my dingo!'" demanded Niche huffing.

"Niche my dingo?' But I'm not even a Letter Bee yet," Lara tried to reason.

_'A Bee...' _thought the woman. "I'm Nelli. There's only one inn in Kyrie. Follow me, I'll show you the way."

Lara smiled. "Thank you, Nelli!" While being escorted to the inn, Lara spoke, " This town is really quiet. It's the town right in front of Bifrost, so I thought it'd be a bit more lively."

"It's because there's rarely people who cross the bridge," told Nelli. "Without a crossing pass, it's the end of the road. Kyrie is also known as 'Dead-End.' 'The Dead-End Town.'"

Nobody spoke afterwards until they finally arrived at the inn. Beofre going inside, Nelli asked, "By the way, you got any money?"

"Huh? Yeah, a little," answered Lara.

"Everything's ridiculously expensive in this town," revealed Nelli. "It's 7,000 rin a person."

"Eh?!"

"Welcome to Cold Case Hotel," said the inn manager. "We don't serve meals, but you're welcome to use the kitchen fire when you please! 7,000 rin a person! Payment up front! Even a pet's gonna cost as another person. Is it really just the two of you?"

That last question startled Lara so much, she thought she would blow their cover. Luckily she needed and looked back at Niche, who was using Steak as her hat, a strange hat indeed. "Um...yes. Just the two of us," sputtered Lara nervously.

"What a nice hat you've got, little missy," commented the manager to Niche, who was walking away.

"See? He didn't notice a thing," whispered Nelli to Lara. "Hand me your bag. I'll carry it up to your room."

"Huh?" Without waiting for a reply, Nelli grabbed the bags and left.

"Here, boy. Your room key," said the inn manager handing Lara the room key.

After being handed the key, Lara called out to Nelli, "Wait, Nelli!"

"Boy, where are you from?" asked a voice from out of nowhere. Lara stopped in her tracks and saw a young man with a hawk on his shoulder. "Your hometown I mean."

"Coza Bel," answered Lara. "Although, I was raised in the port town of Cambel."

"Oh! The southernmost town!" said the man sounding impressed.

"You've heard of it?"

"Yeah, though I've never actually been there. This is your first time traveling, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Squawk! Squawk!" The hawk on the man's shoulder started squawking.

"Your bird looks really tough, sir," complimented Lara kindly.

"This is Harry, a bird lent to me by a good old friend who was worried about me traveling alone," explained the man. "We were returning from a trip to see Love Someone Down in Rent town to the west."

_'L-love Someone Down?!' _thought Lara, her face growing pale when she remembered the last time she'd been there.

"But what a complete waste of time!" sighed the man. "The rare-animal exhibition was shut down for some reason. And I would have been able to pay anything to buy it too! That 'Child of Maka.'"

**SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! **Lara looked just in time to see Niche stabbing the walls with her golden sharp hair.

"Aaaahh! Niche!" shouted Lara shocked. "Excuse me!" she called as she pulled Niche away and ran for it. When they finally reach somewhere in the inn where the two girls could talk privately, Lara sighed in relief. "Whoa...that startled me...that was too close for comfort!"

"Why are we running?" asked Niche, tilting her head to the side.

"Why? That man was going to buy you!" whispered Lara. "If he knew you were the 'Child of Maka,' I don't what I'd do!"

"Why are you worried?" asked Niche. That question surprised Lara. "You made Niche wear underwear, and you let me lick spots where it hurts. That means that Niche is Big Sis Lara's dingo, right?"

Lara was flustered and touched by the small girl's words. "Niche...thank you, but...er...about the whole dingo thing...I was thinking that if I become a Letter Bee, you should go to Cambel and let my aunt Sabrina take care of you."

"? Big Sis Lara?"

"Now matter what you are, it's just too dangerous for a small girl to be my dingo. I think you'd be happy living in Cambel-"

"You'd say that saying goodbye makes you sad, Big Sis Lara!" argued Niche angrily.

Lara was surpised, but kindly said, "It is...but...dingos act as lures to help defeat Gaichuu, and they probably get injured a lot! I can't make a little girl do something that dangerous!"

That ticked Niche off, seeing how she's trembling in anger, surrounded by a dark omnious aura, and got Steak and Lara all startled and frightened. "It's not dangerous!" shouted Niche.

"W-wait, Niche!" said Lara trying to calm the small girl down. "Huh? Wait, where did Nelli go?" Then, Lara saw Niche taking off something and was shocked to see Niche take off her underwear.

Niche, trembling in anger, shouted, "Big Sis Lara, you dummy!"

"Eh?!" Lara gawked in shock as she watched Niche walk away in a huff. Then, she regained her senses and call out to Niche, "W-wait, Niche!" Then, the soon-to-be Letter Bee saw the same man she encountered before and asked, "Excuse me! Um...have you see Nelli, the kid we were with eariler?"

"Nelli left a little while ago," answered the man, casually loafing on the couch while reading a book. "And she also took your bag too."

"Huh?! If you saw, why didn't you try to stop her?"

"When arriving in a new town, you have to test it with your own 'heart.' There are those that spent their lives not thanking people for the things they receive everyday. This isn't Cambel, kid. You can't just judge everything by your own standards. ...You're not listening, are you?"

While he was talking, Lara called and tried to search for Niche, who's was gone along with Steak. The man sighed and revealed, 'That Nelli person operates out of the church."

"Huh?" Lara stopped and turned to the man.

"You should be able to catch up to her if you run."

Lara bowed her head and thanked, "Thank you very much!" Then, she left for the church.

"Yes, yes," said the man, resuming his reading. "Quite a polite one, he is. Anyways, I should be heading back too. Hmm?" The man noticed Niche walking towards the kitchen while dragging a strange white creature with her.

What Niche was planning to do in the kitchen is cook up Steak, just like she said she would. Now, Steak is laying on a frying pan, ready to be cook, but too scared to move. "Listen up, Steak," spoke Niche seriously. "Niche gets really hungry when she's mad. So, I'm going to eat you, Steak. Will you do your best to cook nicely?"

Steak nodded, agreeing. Meanwhile, the man was awkwardly watching the whole scene unfold.

Meanwhile, Nelli, with Lara's things, was walking towards Bifrost while examining at Lara's crossing pass. "Hmm...what's with this thing? I thought it'd be really fancy, but it's just ordinary paper. Just a little longer...Nello."

"Give it back! That's something really important of mine!" shouted a familiar voice. Nelli turned around to see Lara running towards her frantically.

"You're a lot faster than you look," praised Nelli. "What is it? It's not like I took your money or anything."

"My bag...and my crossing pass...what do you plan to do with them, Nelli?" asked Lara.

"Don't call me Nelli, because starting today, I'm Lag Seeing!"

Lara was shocked to hear that, but regained consciousness and charged towards Nelli, yelling out, "Nelli!"

"Tch...what a pain..." **SWOOSH! **Nelli got out her switchblade, and when Lara got close...**SLASH! **

Meanwhile, while Niche was still cooking Steak, she sensed something wrong, so she sniffed and realized what it was. While the man was walking down the corridor, he noticed Niche running.

Lara was clutching onto her bloody and injured shoulder as Niche proclaimed, "Even if I spent my life in this town, I'll never get the chance to cross the bridge to Yuusari! I'm not giving up this crossing pass. It was a mistake for a little boy like you to stop by a town like this. With this, I'm gonna cross Bifrost and go to Yuusari! Hurry up and go back home to your mommy!"

"...Give it back," demanded Lara silently. "I'm not going back. I'm going to Yuusari and become a Letter Bee!"

"Heh," scoffed Nelli. "Oh really? Do you even know what type of job Letter Bees do?" She placed her switchblade away and took out a crippled letter. "Take a look at this, Lag! This is a letter my little brother struggled through pain and suffering to write to a certain man. This letter, containing my brother's 'heart', has been here for over two years. Bees can't do anything with people who can't pay the stupidly high postage fees. Don't you get it? Those Bees are people who sold their souls to the government!"

Then, she raised her head to the sky and yelled as loud as she could. 'Hey, listen up everyone! This guy says he's going to Yuusari to become a Bee! He had a real crossing pass, but I took it from him! He says he wants to become one! He wants to be a damn bee, just like that bastard Jiggy!"

Lara heard murmurs like, "A Bee?" or "An actual crossing pass?" or "Just like Jiggy?"

Lara, confused, stood up while clutching onto her wound. "Jiggy?"

"The guy who threw away his friends and became a Bee. The traitor, Jiggy Pepper," explained Nelli. She looked down to the ground and continued, "He was the leader of Kyrie's Pepper Swandom, and my brother looked up to him. He idolized Jiggy. My brother had a weak body and lost the reason the live after Jiggy disappeared. My brother Nello was killed because Jiggy betrayed us." Nelli turned to Lara and thanked, "Lag, thanks to you, I can finally deliver his letter. My hand will deliver this letter Nello wrote in pain, weeping on his sickbed to Jiggy! I wanted nothing more than anything else to make him read it! I wanted him to regret Nello's death! To make him regret abandoning us... And if he doesn't shed a single tear after reading my brother's words...I'll kill him myself."

Then, due to women's intutitions, Lara noticed Nelli's body and said softly, "Nelli...you're a girl..."

**WHAM! **Suddenly, a mob formed and one of the men hit Nelli with a long stick, knocking her off her feet. Lara, who saw everything, cried out, "Nelli!" She placed the unconscious Nelli in her lap and tried to wake her up. Meanwhile, the mob had moved in and tried to swipe the crossing pass that Nelli dropped.

Finally, one of the men raised the crossing pass to the air and yelled, "I got it!" Then, other men tried to swipe the crossing pass away.

"Nelli, please wake up!" begged Lara. "Nelli!" Then, she turned to the frantic people trying to obtain the crossing pass. "What a place...so this is Dead-End, the city at the end of the road."

* * *

_Meanwhile, with Niche(and possibly Steak if he's still alive)... _

Niche was glaring down at her underwear she took off. Meanwhile, the man with the hawk seemed worried about Niche while carrying the frying pan containing a sleeping Steak in it. He thought, _'She seems worried about something. Just standing there in front of her underwear.' _

Then, Niche grabbed her underwear and jumped out of the window. "...She jumped?" wondered the man. Then, he realized the situation and ran towards the window. "Hey! This is the 6th floor!"

Then, the man saw Niche safely going down with her using her golden hair blades to climb down before running. The man was astonished. "Those...are the golden swords! The Child of Maka?" Very quickly, the man wrote something down and read it outloud, "Article: Child of Maka. Request Express Delivery Pickup, Kyrie 4400. Largo Lloyd." The man named Largo turned to the hawk and commanded, "Ok, Harry. Bring this memo to your master, Jiggy Pepper.

* * *

_Back with Lara and Nelli... _

"Stop it, please!" begged Lara towards the mob while tending to Nelli's wounds. "Stop it, everyone!"

**CRASH! **Lara looked up to see where the noise was coming from and saw Niche on top of a building. "Niche?!"

Niche looked down at Lara, and noticed the bloody gash she received, which angered Niche and made her jump off the building. Then, an old man from the mob got the brossing pass and was now running towards Bifrost. "I've got the crossing pass! I'm going to become a Yuusari citizen!" he yelled.

**SLASH! **Niche came crashing down and sliced all of the man's clothes. "Niche!" cried Lara. Then, she noticed Niche rushing towards the mob and yelled, "No, don't Niche! You shouldn't hurt people, Niche! YOU MUSTN'T HURT PEOPLE!"

Then, Niche finally stopped when Lara stood in front of her. By then, all of the people were unconscious and had their clothes sliced off. Lara was panting heavily, "Calm...down...this instant..." She noticed Niche's hurt expression.

"Give it back! I saw it first!" shouted a male's voice. Lara and Niche turn to see Nelli pushing a small boy off and running towards Bifrost.

"Hold on, Nelli!" called Lara. However, she was stopped by Niche's sharp hair blades blocking her way. "N-niche! What are you-"

"Wrong!" interrupted Niche. "Say, 'N-niche, my dingo, what are you...?!'"

"W-what?!"

"Say it!"

"W-we can talk about this later, Niche!" said Lara. "Right now, we have to chase after Nelli and get that crossing pass back from her! If I can't get my interview in Yuusari, I can't become a Letter Bee! And you can't become a dingo either, Niche!"

Niche realized what that meant and her expression changed. Meanwhile, the man named Largo was watching everything and wondered to himself, "Letter Bee...Crossing Pass...Dingo...And he's even tamed the Child of Maka. Just who is this kid?"

"Let's go, Niche!" encouraged Lara. "I'm sure Nelli's headed for the brid-" She stopped midsentence, because Niche wasn't wearing any underwear. "And put on some underwear! Huh? Steak, when did you get here?"

"Hmm...looks like I won't be able to buy the Child of Maka," sighed Largo, watching everything.

"I'm sorry, but this is my bag," apologized Lara as she took her bag back from a man.

"Nothing good in there anyway. Take it."

"Thank you very much!" After she retrieved her bag, she ran to Bifrost Bridge.

"Why is he thanking him?" pondered Largo outloud. "Anyway, the gatekeeper wouldn't let anyone pass with just a crossing pass. It's that Nelli kid who might be in more danger."

Meanwhile, Nelli was running towards Bifrost Bridge as fast as she can while panting heavily. She was thinking of something as she ran. A lost memory...

* * *

_Flashback... _

_"What are you writing, Nello?" asked Nelli. "You should get some rest."_

_"It's a letter, sis," answered the boy named Nello. "I'm writing to Jiggy."_

**_CRASH! _**_A jug full of water fell to the ground, spilling all the water inside. "Writing to him won't change anything!" shouted Nelli, clutching her fists. "That guy abandoned us! Just hurry up and forget about him!"_

_Nello, a bit hurt, replied sadly, "...Okay...sorry sis...*cough*"_

_"After taking a sip of her cup, Nelli got up and announced, "I'm heading out now."_

_"To that job building the church?" questioned Nello._

_"Yeah, it'll be finished soon."_

_"You won't have work anymore?"_

_"Yeah, but I'm getting paid a lot, so we should be alright for a while. It's so big we can use it for shelt once it's done. Also, just between the two of us, I made a secret space where both of us can sleep!"_

_"W-wow!"_

_"Don't worry. You just concentrate on getting better. Your big sister will protect you," insured Nelli. She bent down to Nello and patted his head. "I'll always be together with you, Nello."_

_"...Yeah."_

_Much, much later, Nelli was walking down the street happily with a bag in her arms. She thought, 'I really splurged it this time. This cost as much as 3 day's worth of bread full of honey! I bet Nello's going to be so happy!' _

_Then, Nelli's expression turned to shock when she saw her little brother coughing out blood and silently crying. Nello sobbed, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Jiggy! Jiggy!"_

_A week later, Nelli's little brother, Nello, died._

* * *

_End fo flashback... _

Now, Nelli was panting heavily when she almost arrived at Bifrost. Meanwhile, Lara and Niche were trying to catch up to Nelli in a hurry. Nelli thought with determination, _'I'll defininely make him read it! I'll deliver the suffering heart to the traitor who abandoned him, Jiggy Pepper!' _

Once Nelli was inside some sort of building, Nelli saw the entrance to Bifrost and muttered, "That's the gate to Bifrost!" Then, she stopped running when some sort of air began surrounding her for a moment, and looked outside to see the Artificial Sun illuminating in the night sky.

Nelli whispered, "Where? Where is the bridge?"

**SLAM! **The gate behind Nelli slammed down tightly, startling her. "The government knows everything about people who cross the bridge," spoke a man's voice. Nelli turned around to see a man on opposite sides of her, just inside the building. "I am Signal the Gatekeeper," revealed the man, smoking from a pipe. "The blue smoke from this black crystal pipe confirms the character of those who cross the bridge. But one puff of smoke from the pipe means that it has not acknowledged you as 'Lag Seeing.'"

"W-what are you talking about?!" shouted Nelli pulling out the crossing pass she stoled from Lara. "Look! This is a real crossing pass right here!"

"...Like I said before, the first puff does not see you as Lag Seeing. Therefore, I must take appropriate measures."

**ROAR! **Nelli turned around to see a large yellow lizard monster behind her. "As a matter of convenience, we cannot accept crossing passes in that condition," explained Signal. "Thank you for your understanding."

Nelli, who was too terrified to move, screamed, "WAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Lara, who heard Nelli's scream, shouted, "Nelli!" She saw a huge yellow lizard about to attack Nelli and thought, _'What is that?!' _"Niche! Smash that gate to let Nelli escape!"

Niche leaped off of Lara's back and sliced the gates with her sharp golden sword hair. She called, "Say, 'Niche, my dingo!'" Then, she sensed approaching and saw that the lizard's giant hand was about to smash her.

**CRASH! **After the Lizard's hand came crashing down, Lara cried, "Niche!" Then, she saw Niche's golden blades stab the lizard's hand, and Steak biting the hand. "Niche! Steak!" Then, she turned to Nelli and yelled, "Nelli!"

Nelli, who started to wake up, realized that Lara was calling out to her. "Hurry! Run this way!"

"Lag! Nello's letter!" cried Nelli. Lara turned and saw the letter on the ground a couple distances away from her and began running towards it. "Lag?!"

As Lara ran, she began remembering the words of Gauche, the man who convinced her to become a Letter Bee...

**_"Lara, you are a letter. And inside this letter, there is a lot of important 'heart' and hope and wishes shut away."_**

Lara realized something. She had to protect the letter. Nello's letter, whom Nelli has been desperately trying to protect these past two years. She thought, _'I have to protect the letter. The 'important heart!' _

"Nelli! Being a Bee isn't the kind of job you think it is," said Lara, her left eye glowing red. "The Letter Bees I look up to...are people who put their lives on the line to deliver those letters!"

Signal, who was watching everything, was shocked to see Lara's red eye glow. "An eye of Spirit Amber?!"

Suddenly, as Lara was desperately trying to reach out to grab the letter, a red shindan suddenly shot out from her hand. "A shindan shot out of my hand?" exclaimed Lara. The red shindan shot the letter and it rose up to the sky, carrying the letter with it.

**SLASH! **Niche managed to cut the lizard's tail off during the whole process and looked up to see what was going on. Everyone looked up to see white sparkling stars fall to the ground softly.

**_"Jiggy..."_**

"Nello?" wondered Nelli, astonished and shocked to hear the voice of her little dead brother.

**_"Jiggy is...the one I look up to the most..."_**

* * *

_The scene changes, and it shows a man most likely to be Jiggy, and Nello on top of a hill, seeing the whole town of Kyrie. _

_**"Nello, I can't leave you two behind and go to Yuusari alone," **told Jiggy honestly._

**_"That's...not like you, Jiggy! The Jiggy I know is a man who follows his dreams! Like a man who throws yesterday away and lives for tommorow! The man who turned Dead-End town into the town of beginnings! That's why you're cooler than anyone else! That's what my Jiggy Pepper's like!" _**

_Nello had been sobbing through his whole encouraging speech, because he knows what his big bro was going to say. Nello wasn't sobbing through the pain of losing his brother, he was sobbing because he was happy. Happy to have met Jiggy. Happy to have Jiggy Pepper as his own brother. Because of that, Nello didn't care about shelt, or food, or getting better. If his ideal Jiggy Pepper can stay as the same person forever, then he has no need for any of those stuff. _

**_"Nello..."_**

**_"Stay that cool Jiggy forever. Forever and ever... Don't ever change. So don't worry,l Jiggy. I'll get better, and I'll become a strong man like you so that I can protect big sis!" _**

**_"I understand," _**_acknowledged Jiggy, putting out his fist in front of Nello so that he can knuckle punch it. **"Look after Nelli for me, Nello." **_

_The scene changes and shows a sick and frail looking Nello, coughing up blood as he tried to write his letter. _

_Though Nello made that promise to protect Nelli, he didn't have the strength to keep that promise. He knew he was dying, deep down, and that there was no medicine for his sickness. Nello felt terrible, just trying to get better while trying to take care of his big sis. Nello tried. He tried his best to endure the pain and effects of his sickness, but it was all too much for a little boy like him to take._

**_"Jiggy, I'm sorry, Jiggy...I can't keep my promise...I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Jiggy! I can't do a thing to protect my big sis!"_**

* * *

**_"So Jiggy, I beg of you..."_ **Nello's letter fluttered down into Nelli's hands. **_"Please protect my sister, Nelli...To my hero, Jiggy Pepper..."_**

Lara and Niche were crying do to the memory and the words that touched their hearts gently and emotionally. Both of them felt and understood what Nello had said and cried more.

Lara sobbed, "Nello wasn't suffering because Jiggy left...he was suffering because he was dying and wasn't able to become a man to protect you. So, he wrote to the one person he could rely on, Jiggy. It was a letter wishing you happiness from the bottom of his heart...Nelli."

"N-nello, you idiot...!" cried Nelli. "Didn't I say that I'd proect you..? That you shouldn't think about anything but getting better...? Didn't I say that..?"

Lara then focused her attention on her hand, which fired a red shindan a moment ago. "But...why?" questioned Lara. "Why did a shindan fire from my hand? Why could we see Nello's heart in that letter...?"

"That was because of your shindan, I suspect," answered a familiar voice.

Lara turned and saw Lloyd, the traveler from before. "You're...that traveling rare animal collector!" Lara quickly stood in front of Niche, her arms open wide to protect the Child of Maka. She thought, _'This is bad! Did he see Niche's swords?' _

"...Shindan are created using the power that's within Spirit Amber, heart shaped into a bullet," explained Lloyd. "The gun is merely a tool which helps creat the image of 'heart' in the shape of bullet and shoots it out. So, since you've already got the amber in your body, all that happened was that you yourself became the gun and shot out a shindan."

"Then, what about the pictures we saw after it hit the letter?"

"Just as no humans exist with the same heart, there are various different types of shindan. Perhaps your shindan has the ability to peer into the heart stored into things."

Lara looked up at the beautiful glowing light. "The heart...stored in things...?"

"Of course, with your sensitivity, you can probably feel something containing strong heart."

**_"The church..."_**whispered out Nello's voice. Everyone noticed and looked up.

* * *

_The scene changes and shows Nello staring outside from a building, and looking at the unfinished church._

**_"They started building it after you left, Jiggy. Sis got a job, and we could buy bread and medicine. But I was thinking, Jiggy. You said once that you yourself wanted to build a huge church in this town one day, so that kids could learn how to write, and have a place to sleep. You were sure that it could change this town. Jiggy, could it be that that church...?"_**

* * *

"Then, the one who built that church was Jiggy?!" exclaimed Lara.

"Hmph, as if he would have done something like that!" scoffed Nelli, placing her hat back on and brushing away her tears. "You may be able to understand Nello's feelings with your strange power, but I'm not going to fogrive Jiggy for leaving to satisfy his own ambitions! Here, Lsg." Nelli handed Lara back her crossing pass. "I'm giving this back."

"The crossing pass?" Lara took the crossing pass back from Nelli.

"Go on to Yuusari already. You're gonna be a Bee, right Lag? Sure must be nice to sell your soul for a living! Just like Jiggy!"

As Nelli was walking away, Lara suddenly grabbed onto her coat, making her stop. "Then, let's find out what Jiggy really feels!" Then, she started dragging Nelli away somewhere.

"H-hey! Lag! Where are we going?"

As Niche watched everything, she felt someone's presence coming closer to her and swiftly turned around to see the man named Lloyd about to catch her with his hands, but fail and froze.

**SLASH! SLASH! **All Niche did was stab the ground with her golden hair as a warning to the strange man, almost cutting Steqak in the process, but giving him a nice haircut. "Let's go, Steak!" ordered Niche.

"! Hey you!" called Lloyd. But the two were already gone. Not wanting to go after them, Lloyd turned to go greet Signal, who was silent the entire time. "How's it going, Camus?

"...Don't call me by my old name," informed Signal.

"Yes, sure thing, gatekeeper Signal."

"That boy from before was Lag Seeing, was he not?" asked Signal. "I was not informed that he had a Spirit Amber in his left eye."

"I didn't know, either. I'll leave the report to you. But...a mysterious boy who tamed the Child of Maka and carries the power of Spirit Amber in his body...something makes me suspicious about him, but I can't quite recall..."

"...Will you be returning to the Bee Hive, Director Lloyd?"

* * *

_Meanwhile... _

"What?! You're going to shoot at the church?!" exclaimed Nelli shocked.

"If Jiggy was the true found of this church, then I think his true feelings will be contained here!" excplained Lara. "Let's go!" She and Niche (and Steak) ran inside the church.

"H-hey, Lag!"

Once they got inside, Lara clutched onto her gun tightly and concentrated on focusing her shindan's special ability. "The bullet I shoot is a fragment of my heart..." Her left eye started glowing red. "Shindan, loaded!" She fired at one of the pillars and shouted, "Akabari!"

Unfortunely, nothing happened. "...Nothing came out..." said Lara.

"Akabari?" asked Nelli curiously.

"Ah! Well, you see, the shindan of some guy named Gauche's was called Kurobari, so I-I just named mine from the color of my Spirti Amber," explained Lara nervously.

_Click-clack. _Lara got ready to aim her gun again. "Anyways, it seems that I can use my shindan." She and Niche started running to another area. Shindan, loaded! Akabari!"

The red shindan blast hit one of the walls, but nothing came out.

"Shindan, loaded! Akabari! Akabari! Akabari! Akabari! Akabari! Aka-" **THUD! **Lara crashed towards the floor facedown, exhausted.

"Eh?! Lag?!" Nelli tried to reach out to Lara, but-

**SLASH! **Niche blocked the young woman's way by using her golden swords, ready to strike Nelli and protect Lara. "Don't come near Big Sis Lara!" she warned. "**I hate you. If you hurt Big Sis Lara again, I'll kill you." **

Nelli was startled by Niche's reaction, but heard Lara's voice. "Niche...Niche, that's not good. You can't...hurt people...and please don't ever use words like that again..." Lara slowly got up, panting heavily, and sweating like crazy.

"Lag?!" said Nelli, concerned. "You're sweating! Lag, you get exhausted every time you shoot one of those things, right?"

"...I still can't control it well yet.."

"Then, just stop moron!" shotued Nelli. "Why are you doing this? This has nothing to do with you! Why do you care so much about this thing with Jiggy?"

"It's because I feel sorry for him," answered Lara, struggling to stand up with all her strength.

"! You...feel sorry for him?"

Suddenly, the falling stars that appeared out of Lara's shindans started appearing as projections from Lara's memories, about Gauche and her, Gauche and his sister, and how Gauche's travels with her encouraged her to become a Letter Bee.

"Gauche, the Letter Bee I met, was fightning for his sister's happiness," said Lara, now on her feet, though still panting, but full of new-born determination. "He was aiming to become Head Bee in order to cure his sister's paralyzed legs. He left her on her own, even though he didn't want to be apart from her. He traveled to Akatsuki for her sake. Therefore, I can't think of Jiggy as a bad person, since I felt Nello's heart. I'm sure that Gauche, Nello, and Jiggy...were trying to fight for the happiness of those they care about!"

Nelli was surprised, and Lara continued while her red shindan eye was glowing fiercely now, "To have the very person you want happy holding a grudge against you, to be trapped by your own past...if it were me, how lonely and painful would I feel, I wonder?" Lara gripped her gun tightly. "If Jiggy's heart is really contained here, the Nelli, I want to deliver it to you! And for Nello, who wished for your happiness!"

"...The bell," Nelli finalyl spoke. "Apparently, the building materials built for the church were mostly sent from Yodaka. But the bell was completely transported from Yuusari."

Lara looked up to see a huge golden bell at the top of the church, just hanging there. "The bell..." Lara had a theory that might work 50%, so she aimed her gun up towards the bell and cried, "Shindan, loaded! Akabari!"

The red shindan fired towards the helm of the bell completely, and there was a huge flash the instant it hit.

* * *

**_"This guy's a piece of work!" _**

_The scene changes into a bunch of men in a building, appearenlt talking to someone other than themselves. _

**_"Make a bell for the largest church in all of Amberground? Lad, do you know how much that'll cost ya? Even if you're a Bee, you'd be paying for it the rest of your life!" _**_said one of the men._

**_"Fine," _**_replied the man the men were talking to, which happened to be Jiggy Pepper. **"Even if that's so, make it."**_

_**"Look at this! You've got to be crazy trying to transport this thing to Kyrie by horse!" **said one of the men pointing to the huge bell._

**_"So Jiggy, why did you want this thing built anyways?" _**_asked one of the men._

**_"It's a symbol," _**_answered Jiggy. **"With a bell like this, you can't help but to look up at it, together with the stars. But even if you try to grab the stars, you just can't seem to get them in your grasp. And yet, if you look at them and simply stretch out your arm, the sins that pollute you are wiped clean." **_

_Scene changes and shows the night sky filled with beautiful snow white stars. **"And one day, my little brother and sister will grab a hold of those stars. Nelli and Nello, I know they can do it."** _

* * *

After the scenes cleared, Nelli was shown with her eyes filled with unstoppable tears. These...were tears of joy, sorrow, regret, and most importantly...happiness. (I guess I don't need to explain why there are different emotions of tears, do I?)

"Jiggy...Jiggy!" Jiggy's little sister cried.

**THUD! **Lara fell to the ground unconscious, causing Nelli to foget her thoughts for now and focus on the girl. "Ah! Lag! Is he okay?" shouted Nelli, wiping away her tears and rushing towards her.

**SLASH! **Niche held one strain of hair as a golden blade and sat close to Lara, protecting her. Nelli got to Niche's level and ensured the little girl, "Calm down. I'm not going to do anything to you or Lag anymore."

Nelli looked at Lara next and calmly spoke, "If someone like you can become a Letter Bee, then maybe I shouldn't give up on them, either. Lag Seeing...thank you for delivering my letter..."

* * *

_Later, after Nelli healed Lara's wounds... _

"Is it really okay for me to leave without taking Nello's letter?" questioned Lara. She and Niche were saying their final farewells to Nelli before they left for Yuusari, then both offered to take the letter to Jiggy, but Nelli declined.

"Yeah. I'm going to work hard and buy the stamps myself," replied Nelli. "There's still work in this town, so I'll do my best. It's annoying that Jiggy gets to hog all of the coolness. And one day, I want to shine just like Jiggy. And...just like you." Nelli offered her hand to Lara and spoke, "Become a Letter Bee, Lag."

"Right!" agreed Lara, taking Nelli's hand and shaking it. "I will! And then I will come to see you again, okay?"

"Yup! It's a promise!~"

"Farewell!"

"See you, Nelli!" shouted Lara as Nelli was walking back to Kyrie.

As Nelli was walking back she thought, _'...You really are a bad lier, aren't you Lag, or whatever your real name is. Lying about being a boy that is. I figured it out due to women's intuitions, but don't worry, I promise not to tell anyone. But, be careful not to let anyone know your true gender, or you won't ever be a Letter Bee. I wish you good luck...kiddo.' _

* * *

**Hope: Alright! Finalyl done with this chapter and my stupid tests are over with!~**

**Lara: WHAT?! So, Nelli knew I was a girl?! But how?!**

**Hope: Women's intuitions!**

**Zazie: That doesn't clearify the question!**

**Hope: By the way...Zazie, I decided to cancel your punishment! But next time, don't piss me off! Anyways, anyone else want to say somehing before we're outta here?**

**Connor: I LIKE PIE!**

**Everyone: 0.0**

**Hope:...Now then! This will be the last chapter before I update again! Also, just want a simple request from all of you reviewers! Please post good ideas or romance ideas in the review box! Any idea will be fine! Thanks! Peace out!**


	4. The Bee Exam

**Hope: Hey guys! Wow, it's been a while since I last updated, right?**

**Zazie: Burn the witch! *gets out a torch and a pitchfork***

**Everyone else: YEAH! *also gets out the same thing Zazie got***

**Hope: *uses authoress powers to form a barrier around herself* Hey! I'm sorry, okay? I had lots of schoolwork, plus I had to update other stories!**

**Sylvette: But you forgot about us!**

**Hope: Well, I'll try to update more chapters every now and then! Other than that, I'll have to do other things in my lifetime! Now, do you want the new chapter or not? Oh, and before that, someone has to do the disclaimer!**

**Lara: I will! Mage of Hope does not own Tegami Bachi!**

**Hope: See? Lara's nice! Now, why don't you be more like her?**

**Everyone else: *glares* **

* * *

At the gate to Bifrost, Lara and Niche had to go see the gatekeeper, Signal, before they were going to enter Bifrost. After Lara, using the alias Lag Seeing, and Niche introduced themselves, Signal was smoking on a cigar an asked Lara and Niche, "What is that animal riding on your head?"

Signal was refering to Steak, whom Niche pointed to the white creature and cried out, "Niche's 'Steak!'"

"...I recognize Lag Seeing, one dingo, and that dingo's live bait," said Signal finally. He planed one hand into what seems to be a globe completely in brown, and spun it around. Then, a small bridge appeared towards another set of stairs. "Please go down the stairs in this tower to reach the bottom."

"Ah, thank you very much, Mr. Gatekeeper," thanked Lara before she, Niche, and Steak left. After a couple minutes of walking down the stairs, the trio finally arrived outside.

"We're outside!" shouted Niche, running around.

"Ah! Niche!" called Lara, following after the younger girl. Then, the two girls stared at amazement at the road ahead of them. "So, this is the bridge that connects to Yuusari...Bifrost!"

As Lara and Niche and Steak were walking down the road, they stepped on puddles of water numerous times. This caused Lara to think in amazement, _'The bridge is just barely on the surface of the water. And if you look carefully, it's really deep!' _

Niche and Steak were running down the road, not caring about the splashes they make. "Wait Niche!" called Lara, trying to catch up to them. "If you run, you might fall into the water, so let's walk along the middle! You too, Steak!"

As Lara was approaching Niche, Niche said, "Wait! Say, 'Wait, my dingo!'"

"Huh?"

"Say, 'It looks like it'd be easy to fall off the edge, so let's walk down the middle, Niche my dingo!'"

Lara sighed. "You're pretty stubborn, you know that, Niche-"

"Say, 'You're pretty stubborn, you know that, Niche-'"

"Please, stop right there!" interrupted Lara, shoving a palm towards Niche's face, making her stop midsentence. As soon as Niche calmed down and listened, Lara continued, "If you hadn't been with me back there, I would never have been able to do anything in Kyrie by myself. Thanks, Niche."

"Big Sis Lara...?"

"Will you help me with my Bee interview exam?" asked Lara. "As Niche, my dingo?"

Niche's face turned to embarrassment as soon as she heard Lara finally admit Niche as her dingo. Immediantly, she pulled out the panties Lara gave her from her dress, much to Lara's shock, and put them on. _'All this time, she didn't even put them on?!' _thought Lara, shocked.

"I, your dingo, Niche, will be Niche, your dingo!" declared Niche, still embarrassed, turning around so that Lara doesn't see her blushing face. "Let's go, Big Sis Lara!"

That reminded Lara. She called, "Wait, Niche! One more thing!"

Niche turned around, and asked, "Yes, Big Sis Lara?"

"Well, according to Letter Bee rules, no girls are allowed to become Letter Bees, so could you just call me Lag from now on, except when we're alone? I can't be a girl and a Letter Bee."

"Niche doesn't understand. Big Sis Lara, please explain!"

Lara sighed before benting down and patting Niche's head. "Niche, the Hive only accepts boy Letter Bees. I wanted to be a Letter Bee so I pretended to be a boy by the name of Lag Seeing. Only you, me, and Steak knows that I'm a boy. Nobody else can know I'm a boy or we can't ever deliver letters anymore. And that means you won't become my dingo anymore either."

The last sentence seemed to struck Niche hard. "No more dingo? No delivering letters? That make Big Sis Lara sad?"

Lara nodded. "Yes, very sad."

Niche's cheeks puffed up in determination, and she declared, "Then Big Sis Lara is Big Bro Lag!"

"That's right! Thanks, Niche!" thanked Lara happily. Then, she looked around and asked, "Huh? Where's Steak?" That's when she spotted the white creature in the water. "Ahhh! Steak! He's drowning!"

After rescuing Steak and drying up a bit, the trio finally arrived at the gate to Yuusari, where they encountered a man that resembles Signal. "Huh? Signal-san?" questioned Lara, confused and surprised.

"No, I am the gatekeeper on the Yuusari side, Signaless," replied the man, identical to the gatekeeper near Kyrie.

"Twins...?" muttered Lara.

"I regonize Lag Seeing and his dingo. You may pass," said the man called Signaless.

After Lara and Niche passed through the iron gates into Yuusari, they heard a familiar voice calling out to them, "Hey, Lag!" Lara recognized the familiar voice belonged to Connor and ran to him.

"Ah! Connor! You came to pick me up?" asked Lara, in front of Connor.

"I was so worried about you because you were so late," explained Connor. "Huh? You look wet."

"Well, it's a long story..."

"Anyways, let's hurry back to Central by carriage! You delivered that girl safely, rig-" Then, Connor turned around and saw Niche behind Lara, glaring right back at him. "W-she's here?!"

"Um...Connor? The truth is that she's my dingo now," explained Lara.

**MUNCH! **"Um...Lag?" questioned Connor, pointing to Steak bitting his head. "What's this?"

"Ahhhhhh! Steak!"

After finally getting Steak off of Connor and explaining everything to Connor, they were now traveling to Central by the carriage. Niche was using her hair as a laundry pole to dry her clothes, but Lara decided to keep her drenched clothes on for two reasons. One, if she took off her clothes, Connor would find out she's a girl. Two, if she did take off her clothes, well, let's just say she doesn't want to be naked in front of males.

"Whaaat?! So that girl is rumored to have the blood of Maka?!" exclaimed Connor, shocked.

"Rumors?"

"Ah, well it's just because there are people at the Bee Hive who are interested in rumors like that. Oh! I forgot to introduce myself!" Connor turned around and introduced himself. "I'm Connor! And this is my dingo, Gus!" Connor pointed to a dog right next to him wearing a pink bandanna. "Nice to meet you, Niche and Steak!" When no reply came from Niche, Connor wondered if she was asleep.

Lara looked up in the sky and saw that it was unusually getting brighter. Normally, in Amberground, it was nighttime all the time, even if it was morning. Lara commented, "The sky's getting brighter. When I was young, I saw that it was the same as Gauche's heart. I really did make it to Yuusari, didn't I?"

"...Can you see it, Lag?" asked Connor. "That's Yuusari Central." Lara saw a large city up ahead of them and above, there seems to be a large glowing sun or moon, otherwise known as the Aritifical Sun. Either way, coming close to the city made things more brighter.

When arriving at the city for the first time, Lara and Niche stared and gasped in amazement as they saw the scenery before them. Several white cherry blossoms drifted in the soft breeze, several beautiful buildings, many people smiling and enoying themselves.

As they were traveling and riding around, Connor explained, "The capital of the Yuusari area is located in Central. This is the main street, Nocturne Hood. The Head Post Office you'll be taking the Bee exam is up ahead also."

"Hey, Connor," called Lara. "Sylvette's living in this town too, right? She's the same age as me, so she must be around 12 years old. I wonder what kind of girl she is. I want to talk to her about my journey. I want to ask her about herself, and about Gauche working towards becoming Head Bee in Akatsuki."

"...Yeah," said Connor, acting strangely. "We'll go see her after your exam." Finally, they came to a stop. "Okay, we're here! That's the Head Post Office for all of Yuusari and Yodaka, but everyone calls it the Bee Hive."

Right in front of them, a large building that almost looks like a church appears, looking bright even with the Artificial Sun. Lara was amazed and so excited that she jumped off the carriage and ran towards the entrance of the Bee Hive.

"W-wait, Lag!" called Connor. "You too, Niche!"

**BANG! **Lara swung the doors open and stood up did the same after seeing Lara do it. "Nice to meet you! I'm Lag Seeing! I came from Cambel Litus to take on the Bee's interview test! I'm here with my dingo, Niche and Steak! I'm looking forward to-"

"Lag!" hissed Connor, who had grab hold of Lara's shoulder, making her stop. After escorting her to the stairs, with some people either ignoring what just happen or giving some encouragment, they were out of sight.

"Cut me some slack, Lag," groaned Connor. "You're way too enthusiastic."

"S-sorry," apologized Lara, embarrassed. "But my Aunt told me to introduce myself properly and-"

"Connor Culh!" called a female voice. Everyone turned to see a older attractive lady approaching them. "What was all that noise about?"

"A-assistant Director!" exclaimed Connor. "I brought Lag Seeing here, who's here to take the Bee Exam today, but he's not use to everything yet."

"Lag...Seeing?" asked the lady, now turning to Lara.

The lady looked familiar to Lara, but then she realized that it was the same woman that Gauche was with. The woman that was perhaps Gauche's lover. "Aria...?" The lady named Aria looked surprised. Realizing that she was rude, Lara bowed her head and introduced herself, "I'm sorry! I'm Lag Seeing!"

Aria excused her apology by also introducing herself. "I'm Aria Link, the assistant director. I'll lead Lag Seeing to the Director's room. Please follow me."

"H-hai!" obeyed Lara, catching up to Aria. She thought, _'But I thought there can be no female Letter Bees.' _

_Knock. Knock. _"Pardon me," said Aria, opening the door to the Director's room. "I brought the boy, Lag Seeing."

The man at the front desk turned his chair around, and Lara and Niche were shocked to see who it was. "Welcome to the Bee Hive," the familiar man spoke. "We meet again, boy. And the Maka-girl."

"T-the rare animal collector!" exclaimed Lara, already behind Niche and raising her arms to protect the girl. "Why are you here?!"

"? Do you know them, Director?" asked Aria, confused.

"You could say that, yeah."

"So you did noticed Niche's identity, after all!" pointed out Lara. "But you won't get anything out of following us all the way here! Niche is an important friend of mine, and my dingo!" Not noticing Niche's embarrassment, Lara continued, "And I won't allow her to be sold and bought like animals! Wait a minute...Director?"

"I am the Bee Hive Director, Largo Lloyd!" introduced the man, much to Lara and Niche's shock. "I thought I'd make the Maka-girl as my dingo for business trips, but that looks to be difficult now."

"O-oh, so that was it..." muttered Lara, realizing her mistake.

"Aria."

"Yes." Aria turned to Lara and handed her a piece of paper. "Go to this address at 17 bells."

Lara opened the piece of paper and read, "Yuusari Central, Westend, Marble Blanket Apartments."

"We will begin the Bee suitability interview examination there," explained Aria.

"Okay!"

Later, Aria was about to introduce Lara to another candidate to take the exam in another house. "Let me introduce you," started Aria. She pointed to a much older looking man and his dingo, a dog. "This is Macky Gee, age 17, and his dingo, Resia.

"Nice to meet you," said Macky.

"And this is Lag Seeing, and his dingo, Niche." Now Aria points to Lara and Niche.

"And Steak!" Lara bows her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You two will do the suitability interview examination today," continued Aria.

"What, just the two of us?" asked Macky.

"The season's examinations started on the tenth month, and currently all 22 people have failed," said Aria, surprising the two candidates. "It is no simple task."

"That many?" gasped Lara.

"Millerire, Truscal, your letters please."

Then, two girls that seems the same age handed their letters to the candidates each. "Please deliver this," requested the girl in blue.

The girl in red was going to hand Lara her letter when she stopped and glared at her. "I don't want this one!" she whined. "He looks way too incompetent."

"I-incompetent?!" exclaimed Lara, shocked.

"These girls are postal customers," explained Aria after the girl in red finally handed her letter to Lara. "Instead of paying for stamps, they agreed to help us in the examination. To know whether you are suited to be a Bee, it is important that you deliver an actual letter that someone put their heart into writing."

"And so, what does the exam consist of?" asked Macky.

"To deliver the letters you accepted to their destination," answered Aria. "That is the sole task. The destination to these letters is Raspberry Hill. There is only one route. But there are Gaichuu there."

"So, we have no choice but to go through the Gaichuu point to get there," said Macky, understanding.

"That is the case, yes." Aria points to a table of what seems to be guns and rifles that seems unloaded. "Here is a number of shindajuu and pieces of spirit amber. The only way to defeat a Gaichuu is to resonate heart from within their bodies."

"So you also want to see how we handle weapons," replied Macky. "How long do we have to deliver them?"

"There is no set deadline," answered Aria.

"Alright, I'll take this one," decided Macky, picking up a rifle.

Aria turned to Lara and said, "You choose one as well."

"Um...I don't need one," ensured Lara. "I have my own amber and gun."

Aria was surprised. "Oh, I see. If that's all, then I have another thing to say. The examination is dangerous. In order to ensure a minimal level of safety, it is possible that the proctor may halt the examination. But do not forget that you will be delivering actual letters, and do your best to make it to the end. I pray for your safe return. Commence delivery!"

Outside, the candidates were talking with each other and checked the destination of their letters. They were both the exact locations. "These are the exact locations," pointed out Macky. "But I sure lucked out this time!"

"Eh?"

"She said all 22 people have failed, " explained Macky. "That means that they'll keep having the Bee exam until they find someone who meets all requirements. You grew up in Yodaka, right? Otherwise, it would be unusual for someone like you to take the examination. And to be honest, I'm from a town on the outskirts of Yuusari. As a representative from a country town, there's no way I can go back home as a failure. Anyways, let's give it our all!"

"R-right!" agreed Lara.

"I'm going by carriage," revealed Macky. "What about you?"

"Well, we don't have that much money, so we'll just walk," answered Lara.

"Well, if you don't want to get hurt, take your time. That way, we'll have beaten those Gaichuu before you get there!" With that said, Macky and his dingo left.

"...Big bro Lag, is that dingo's tail made of meat?" spoke Niche finally.

"What? No!" exclaimed Lara, surprised at the question. Unknown to them, Aria was watching the conversation from inside the house they had been.

"Silver hair and sepia eyes?" muttered Aria, watching them as they walked away. "Lag Seeing is the same as that person. An Albisian child."

* * *

Meanwhile, Macky and his dingo, Resia, were walking in the outskirts of Raspberry Hills. Raspberry Hills was known for its raspberry colored mud that looks digusting, but smelled like raspberries. "So that's the destination..." muttered Macky. "There's not much choice but to continue walking, seeing how the cart can't go farther. It'll be tough to keep your footing during a battle on this unsteady ground."

All of a sudden, the ground started rumbling, and Macky knew what was coming. "Damn, not wasting any time, huh?"

**BOOM! **The Gaichuu emerged from the ground, and appeared like a giant centipede with many sharp looking arms. Meanwhile, a black haired boy who had the Letter Bee uniform was hiding in a different spot, examining the scene. "Man, I really hate being a exam observer," he muttered as he got prepared. At his side, a black panther like creature with blue eyes was also ready to fight. "Watch over him and make sure he doesn't die, Wasiolka."

Now, the Gaichuu centipede, known as Glen Keith, was frailing its arms around, prepared to catch and eat its prey. Immediantly, out of fear, Makcy tried shooting the Glen Keith with his shindanjuu rifle, but nothing came out. "Damn it!" cried Macky desperately. "How are you supposed to shoot one of these shindan things?! Resia! Resia!" Macky looked around, but his dingo was nowhere to be seen.

"If that was your dingo, she ran off ages ago," muttered the black haired boy. "This is exactly why we have to watch over all the crappy examinees."

_'T-there's no way!' _thought Macky, too frightened to move. _'There's no way I can stand up against that thing!' _

**BOOM! **A flash of white suddenly blasted the Glen Keith right in the face, knocking it back a bit. Shocked at the surprised attack, the black haired observer muttered, "Shindan?"

"Sorry!" called a familiar voice. The black haired boy and his dingo, Wasiolka turned around to see Lara and Niche coming down from the sky. "I need to get closer to the Gaichuu to shoot it! Let's go, Niche!"

"What the-?!" Before the black haired boy could finish his sentence, Lara and Niche had already landed next to him. Then, Niche leaped off the cliff with her golden sharp hair and lunged towards the Glen Keith. The Glen Keith then twirled around and fired off what seems to be sharp nails that could pierce anything, or anyone.

"Nails?" muttered Niche, surprised. Then, easily, she sliced through all the approaching Nails with success before stabbing the tall Glen Keith with her golden sword hair to hang onto. Suddenly, the Glen Keith used one of its arms to lash out towards Niche, who didn't expect this surprise attack.

**BOOM! **The Glen Keith stopped its attack when it was hit by a red flash this time, and this cause Niche to fall off the Gaichuu. "Niche!" called Lara, who had leaped off the cliff and fired another red shindan, hitting the Glen Keith again. Niche managed to hang onto the Glen Keith again just in a blink of an eye. Niche glanced up to see one of Lara's memories.

* * *

_**"Gaichuu have a weak point," **spoke Gauche. _**_"The dingo helps the partner aim for the cracks in the joints." _**

**_"Like that one?" _**_asked a younger Lara, pointing towards something. _

**_"Yes! That one!"_ **

* * *

"Steak!" called Niche. Steak, who was on top of the Glen Keith, pointed to something in the Gaichuu, which would be the weak point.

"Aaaahhhhhh!" screamed Lara, falling down from her reckless act.

Niche managed to catch her in time and throw her up high in the air again. "It's at the top, Big Bro Lag!"

"Eh? Whoaaaaaaaa!" yelled Lara, frailing around in the air. While in the air, she noticed Steak on top of the Glen Keith, pointing to a small crack with his tail. Lara got the message and prepared to fire her shindanjuu towards the Gaichuu. She thought with concentration, _'The bullet I shoot is a fragment of my heart.' _"Shindan, loaded! Resonate, Akabari!"

**BANG! **The red shindan fired directly at the vital point of the Gaichuu, and as soon as it hit, the Haichuu exploded into a white light and many pieces of it landed at the ground, destroying it for good. Everyone was surprised after seeing the fight, and Lara and Niche managed to land safely in the raspberry mud. Though it would make them dirty. However, it was better than getting killed.

"Blah! This mud is horrible!" muttered Lara, wiping some mud off her. "Niche? Steak? Where are you?"

"Over here!" called Niche. Lara turned around and saw a snowman-like figured covered in raspberry mud.

"Eek!" Lara shrieked, before realizing that it was Niche and Steak under all that mud. Then, she stood up and said as she wiped off the mud off Niche and Steak with her hankerchief, "Looks like the only way to beat it was from above. Sheesh, I'm a mess." Then, she realized something important. "Ah! The letter! Oh no!"

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?!" screeched an old woman's voice so loud, the whole town could hear her. Lara had delivered the letter she was supposed to deliver to an old lady and hoped that she would not be scolded. But her hopes shattered. "How dare you cover my precious letter with mud?! This isn't a joke, you know!"

"I'm really sorry!" apologized Lara, bowing her head.

"Quite a difference from the one I received from Mr. Macky Gee I got eariler,"said the old woman.

"Ahhhh! That was a great bath!" exclaimed Macky happily, coming out from the house.

"Was it?" asked the old woman happily. Then, she turned back to Lara with an angry expression and continue scolding, "Anyways, you-"

"Now, now, Mrs. Morris," interrupted a familiar voice. Everyone turned to see the black haired boy from before hand a envelope to the woman named Mrs. Morris. "This is the rin and stamp set as our gift of thanks. We're really sorry, and we appreciate your cooperation." Gratefully, Mrs. Morris took the envelope. "May I see the clean letter for a moment?"

"Huh? Ok."

After the black haired boy was handed the letter, he turned to Lara. "Oh, I'm Zazie, the observer for this Bee exam. Good work! Also, try shooting this! I heard that your shindan can see the heart contained within objects in your file. So, don't hold back, okay?"

"Um...sure," agreed Lara, getting out her shindanjuu. Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger, and a scene unfolded in front of everyone.

* * *

**_"Ugh...this thing's all wrecked and ruined!" _**_exclaimed Macky, picking up a dirty looking letter. **"Well, I thought something like this might happen." **Macky was now on the ground, with some papers, ink, and some stamps. **"What bad handwritting. I'll easily forge this!"**_

* * *

"It's a lie!" shouted Macky with his shindan rifle. "That kid's from Yodaka! They're all liars there!"

_Click-click. _Zazie pointed his shindajuu towards Macky, saying, "Right, exam over. "Please return that shindanjuu immediantly. Train your heart and try again!"

After sending Macky away, Lara decided to walk back with Zazie. "But man, Lag! That was great!" exclaimed Zazie. "Just a little more and you would have set a new record!"

"Record?"

"That Jiggy Pepper guy did it in two days. It took me a full week to get the Glen Keith to retreat. Connor took a whole month."

Lara giggled a bit. "Is that so?"

"The final decision willl be made by the people at the top," explained Zazie. "I can't gurantee it, but at this level, you'll be hired as a full-fledged Bee for sure."

"R-really?!"

"You're a lot like the guy who holds the record for clearing it. And the record-holder, Gauche Suede, isn't a Bee anymore, so in reality, you're in first place."

Lara stopped in her tracks, frozen over what Zazie said. Zazie also stopped, confused why Lara stopped. "Gauche...is no longer a Bee..?"

* * *

**Hope:...And done! **

**Zazie: Finally! I'm finally in the story! Yeah!**

**Hope: And you'll be in more chapters from now on!**

**Zazie: Double yeah!**

**Hope: But most will focus on your romance relationship with Lara-chan!**

**Zazie: Yea-wait, what? Are we still going on like this? I told you, I'm not into guys!**

**Hope: And you forgot, but Lara is not a guy! Lag is, but I changed Lag into a girl! So that doesn't mean you're gay! **

**Lara: For some reason, I'm half happy and half not.**

**Hope: Anyways, it'll take me a while for me to update again due to school and stuff, but fear not! For I'll keep updating, you guys! Also, PLEASE GIVE ME IDEAS FOR LARA X ZAZIE MOMENTS! Thank you, and goodnight!**


End file.
